CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(l\Aonograplis) 


ICMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographles) 


Canadian  Inatituta  for  Hiatorical  MIcrorapraductions  /  Inathul  Canadian  da  microraproductiom  hiatoriqma 


©1995 


TMhnJcal  *nd  MbHofraphie  Now  /  Netn  tMhniquM  tt  bJblia9raphiqiMi 


Th*  Instituti  hn  atttmpiad  to  obtain  tiM  bast  erififlal 
copy  a«ailaMa  lor  fihnint.  Faatum  of  this  copy  which 
may  ba  WWioinphically  uniqiM,  which  may  altar  any 
ol  tha  Imaiai  in  tha  i«»roduetion,  or  which  may 
lignificanilv  chanfa  tha  unial  mathod  of  lilminf,  ai« 


0Colourad  eoaan/ 
Couvarturada 


□  Covan  damatad/ 
Couiartuf*  andommaiia 


Coaart  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Coinartura  rastaurta  at/ou  paMioMa 


D 

I       I  Com  thla  minini/ 

D 


0Colourad  ink  (i.a.  othar  than  Mua  or  Mack)/ 
I 

□  Colourad  Plata*  and/or  iHustratiom/ 
i 


Colourad  mapi/ 

Carlai  giographiqiiai  an  ooulaur 


I  Encra  da  eoiilMr  li.a.  autra  qua  Maua  c 


I  Planehat  at/ou  illuitrationa  an  coulaur 


□  Bound  with  othar  matarial/ 
Rali*  anc  d'autrai  doeumanti 

I       I  Ti^t  bindin9  may  cama  rhadowi  or  dntortion 


aloni  intarior  marjin/ 

La  raliura  larria  paut  cauiar  da  i'omhra  ou  da  la 

dittonion  la  long  da  la  marga  intiriaura 


D 


D 


rattoration  may  appaar 
within  tha  taxt  Whananr  pooiMa,  thaia  ham 
baan  omittad  from  filmirf/ 
II  n  paut  qua  cartainat  patas  Manchas  afouttat 
Ion  d'una  raitauration  apparainant  dans  la  taxta, 
mait.  loraqua  cala  toit  poiiibla.  cas  pa«at  n'ont 
paiMfilmiaa. 


Additional  eommantt:/ 
Commantairat  luppltmantairat: 


This  itam  is  filmad  at  tha  raduaion  ratio  diackad  balow/ 

Ca  documant  ast  filmi  au  tau>  da  rMuction  indiqui  ci-dassout. 


L'Inttitut  a  micraf  ilm*  la  maillaur  aaamplaira  qu'il 
lui  a  M  posnMa  da  ta  pracarar.  U:  ^Mailt  da  c  .t 
axamplaira  qui  sunt  paut-ttta  uniquas  du  point  da  (u 
biWiofrjphiqua,  qui  pauaant  modifiar  una  imapa 
raproduita.  ou  qui  pauaant  a«i|ar  una  modification 
dam  la  mtthoda  normala  da  f ihnaia  font 
ci-da*aous. 

□  Colourad  papas/ 
^^tat  da  coulaur 

□  Patasdamapad/ 
Papas  andommiiiai 

□  ft-  rastorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Papas  rattaurtas  at/ou  paNicuMat 

QPapn  diseolourad.  stainad  or  foiad/ 
P*l 


□  Papas  datachad/ 
Patas  dtad^as 

0Showthrough/ 
Transparanca 

□  Quality  of  print  aarias/ 
Oualitt  in*|ala  da  I'imprassion 


D 


Continuous  pagination/ 
ion  conttnua 


HIndudas  indaxlasi/ 
Comprand  un  (das)  indax 

Title  on  haadar  takan  from:/ 
La  titra  da  l'en-t(ta  proaiant: 

□  Titia  paga  of  issua/ 
Paga  da  titra  da  la  livraison 

I       I  Caption  of  issua/ 


D 


Titra  da  dtpart  da  la  liaraison 

Masthaad/ 

Gin*riqua  (piriodiquasi  da  la  tinaison 


lOX 

^ 

14X 

I8X 

22X 

»X 

XX 

U 

^^ 

J 

n 

12X 

1(X 

20X 

24X 

^~"^ 

^■^^ 

7IIX 

'"--' 

L_J 

19* 

Tha  copy  fllmcd  hara  hat  baan  rapreducad  thanka 
to  tha  ganaroaitv  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'aiiamplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grtc*  1 1* 
gtntroait*  da: 

Blbllothiqua  natlonala  du  Canada 


Tha  imagaa  appoaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
pottibia  eontidaring  tha  eondltien  and  laglblllty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  In  kaaplng  with  tha 
filming  contract  tpocif Icationa. 


Lm  imagaa  lulvantat  ont  ttt  raproduita*  avac  la 
plua  grand  coin,  compta  ttnu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nottatt  da  Taiamplaira  filmi,  at  an 
conf  ormM  avac  laa  eondltlena  du  contrat  da 


Original  coplaa  in  printad  papar  eovara  ara  fllmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  cover  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  cover  whan  appropriata.  All 
othor  original  eopiaa  ara  filmed  baginning  on  th* 
f  irit  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  Impraa- 
aion.  and  anding  on  the  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  itiuatratad  impreeaien. 


Laa  aiiemplairea  orlginauji  dont  la  couvarture  an 
papier  eet  ImprimOa  tont  fllmto  an  commancani 
par  la  premier  plat  at  an  terminani  toit  par  la 
damitre  page  gul  comporte  una  emprainta 
d'impraaaion  ou  d'illuatration,  aeit  par  la  lacond 
plat,  aalon  la  oat.  Toua  laa  autrat  aKamplairat 
originaya  aont  filmta  an  eommanfent  par  la 
premlAre  paga  qui  compono  una  ampreinte 
dimpreaaion  ou  d'INuatration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  damitra  page  qui  eompoita  une  telle 
emprainta. 


The  laat  recorded  freme  an  eech  microfiche 
ahaU  contain  tha  lymbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"!, or  the  lymbol  ▼  Imeaning  "END"), 
whiehavar  appllea. 

Mapa,  plataa.  charta,  etc..  may  *>•  filmed  et 
different  reduction  ratioi.  Thoae  too  large  to  be 
entirely  Included  in  one  espoaure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hend  comer,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bonom.  aa  many  frame*  at 
required.  The  following  diagrama  illuttrate  the 
method: 


Un  dee  aymbeiaa  tuivana  apparaitra  tur  la 
darniAre  imega  da  cheque  microfiche,  telon  le 
cat:  la  aymbole  -^  tignifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
tymbole  ▼  tignifie  "FIN". 

Let  cartet.  planehaa.  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  itre 
filmta  i  dee  Uua  da  rMuction  difftranu. 
Lortque  le  document  eat  trop  grand  pour  itra 
reprodult  en  un  leul  ciich*.  11  eat  film*  *  partir 
da  I'angia  tup*riaur  gauche,  de  gauche  *  droite. 
et  de  haut  an  baa.  en  prenant  la  nombra 
d'imagea  ntcaaaaira.  Laa  diagrammat  tuivanit 
lUuatrent  la  mdthoda. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

MKXOCOPV  HKHUTION  TUT  CHART 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  3) 


1^ 


1.25 


iai2J 

|2J 

la  ^ 
lata 

i& 

1.4 

■  16. 

^ 


^^PPLIED  I^A/GE    Inc 

less  ^oil  Wain  SlrMl 

BochMtBr.   Nam   Yofk         I4609       USA 

(716)  4S2  -OSDO-Ption* 

(71  e)  286-  59S9  -  Fa> 


OTHIS  WRITIHOI  IT  DR.  SATON 


Tm»  RiABT  OP  nn  Cbhmi  Hhtoiioal  Rilmioii 
n  TU  Lisn  or  Mooiu  TaocaaT, 

TU  Caimoa  or  IrsuiiD  a  Nota  Sooiu  An  tbi 
ToBT  CLnoT  or  tu  Bitolutioii. 

TBI  RuToaT  or  Kiro'i  CoiniTT,  Kota  Scotia,  HaAat 
or  Taa  Aoadiav  Lamix 

AcAOua  Laoam  ajis  LTaiot. 

AoAOUa  BAlLAIt, 

Foam  or  tbb  Caanrua  TaAa. 

Taa  Iiorm  or  taa  Nilb  aid  Oraaa  Foaxi. 

ALaxAWDaa  UoNdtt  raa  CoLoauaa. 

OaaaALoaiCAL  Baaroaai  or  Out  Bonoa  FAMiuat. 

KoaooaAraa  oa  laa  OLiratioa  HAMiLToat,  Lian.- 
CoL.  Orao  Hahiito-i  or  OLirairoa,  axd  IIatt 
Oiaaa  VAULiaa  Aao  laDirtDOAL  Haa. 


Db.  mathek  byles 

From  the  original  painting  by  Copley.  1774 


THE  FAMOUS 

MATHER   BYLES 

THE  NOTED  BOSTON  TORY  PBEACHER 
POET.  AND  WIT 

1707-1788 

BY 

AHTHUH  WENTWORTH  HAAHLTON  EATON 

D.OX.,  r.it.s.c. 


luntTRAnD  WITH  tuxT  orauTiirof  raov  ouonrAi 

PAlHTnrOfl  BY  COPLCT,  TH«  FXLRAUB 
AXD  OTHBU 


BOSTON 

W.  A.  BUTTERPIELD 

1014 


BX7A60 
^3 


2400 


O""""".  MM,  »» 
▼•  *•  BnTTBBniLDL 


"  "  "■  •»,D.».A. 


Vo 

FEEDEBICK  LEWIS  GAT,  A.B. 

WHO*.  VALHABL.  COLLTCTIOK  OF  BTLn  1I41ID«0«»T» 

AJID  POBTRAin  HAS  MUCH  WRICHCD  MT  KHOWL- 

*OaX  or  MATBU  BTtM,  AMD  TO  WHOM  I 

All  OTHBRWISB  IHDUTBD  FOB  HILT 

nr  KT  WOBX,  WITH   ancBBB 

BBOABD  I  DIDICATB 

THIS  BOOK 

THE  AUTHOK 


I. 
n. 

in. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

vn. 
vni. 

K. 
X. 

XI. 

xn. 


CONTENTS 

The  Famods  AfATBmi  Btlbb 

BiBTH,       EnUCATIOK,        Joi7BNAU8TlC 

WBiTmas 
Obdination  and  Fibst  Mabbiaqb 
Events  m  Eabljer  Mxnistbt 
Pabtobate  at  Homs  Stbebt  Chubch 
Doctor  Btub  as  a  Pobt  . 
Doctor  Btles's  Humour  . 

DiBMISBAL  raoM  BIB  ChUBCH       . 

Trial  before  the  Town  . 
Social  Standing.    Friendships 
Last  Yeabs 

The  Btles  Fault    .... 
Notes  .... 
Chief  Published  Writings 
Manuscript  Letters. 
Indix  . 


'Ml 

1 


IS 
87 
«7 
74 
92 
117 
142 
161 
177 
196 
2(U 
22A 
240 
246 
249 


ya 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dr.  Mather  Byles    ....  Froniupieet 

From  the  original  pointing  1^  Copley,  1T74,  in 
the  poueasion  of  William  Bruce  Almon,  Eaq.,  M.D. 
^  TO  Moa  rAea 

Hcv.  Increaae  Mather X4 

From  the  original  painting  by  Vandenpriet,  IMS, 
in  the  ponession  of  the  Mauachuietti  Biitotical 
Society. 

Bev.  Cotton  Mather,  by  Peter  Pelham    .        .      SS 
From  an  engraving  by  Peter  Pelham. 

His  Excellency  Jonathan  Belcher,  by  R.  Phillips      40 
From  a  meiiotint  engraving  by  Faber. 

Province  House 44 

From  a  drawing  by  M.  P.  Kenway. 

Dr.  Mather  Byles 48 

From  the  original  painting  by  Peter  Pelham,  is 
the  poiKsaian  of  Mr.  Frederick  Lewia  Gay. 

Hollis  St.  Church 66 

From  Bonner's  map  of  Beaton.  1769. 

Thomas  Hollis,  by  James  Highmoie  .      74 

From  an  engraving  by  Peter  Pelham. 
ix 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


AlexMder  Pope,  hy  Arthur  Pond 

n«B>aeB|nTJB(byBoubnkai. 
Dr.  Iiaac  WstU 

ftw  M  tOfimTiK  by  Tn>tter,  178S. 
A  Canon  of  e.  wonb  by  Dr.  Bylea  . 
Rom  the  N«w  EajUnd  PmIo,  Stogw. 
Facsimile 

fwm  tk,  BwMd.  of  tt.  HoIIi.  St.  OiBn*.' 177». 

Bev.  Homaa  Prince,  by  John  Greenwood 
'^"^  "  "«»™f  by  Peter  Pdhta. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin 

'>oni«n  enpaving  by  T.  B.  Welch. 

Dr.  Mather  Byles    . 

Bev.  MatW  Byles,  Jr. 


■0  VAca  rtm 

.    IM 


IM 


no 


MS 


178 


186 


196 


nwn  u  origiiul  ptintiiig  in  tlu 
rniaUk  Lewii  G»y. 


olMr. 


Mather  Brown 

IVom  M  origin.1  piUnluig  by  hinwlf .  in  th.  bJ 
"»«o(Mr.R«lerickLewi.G.y.       •"""*»• 

Miss  Catherine  Bylea 

From  the  origiiul  pMtiii,  by  Heniy  PeUum. 
View  of  Boston  Common 

JVom  u  engnviiig  by  Stmuel  Hill.  178». 


MS 


214 


S16 


SIS 


THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


CHAPTEB  I 
The  Fauoub  Matieb  Btlxb 
From  the  shadows  of  pre-Bevolutionary 
Boston  no  single  figure  emerges  in  whom 
sympathetic    historians    find    a    greater 
variety    of    interest    than    in    the    Tory 
preacher,  poet,  and  humourist,  who  ap- 
pears  commonly   in   our   annals   as    the 
"famous"  or  "celebrated"  Doctor  Mather 
Byles.     In    days   when  religious    discus- 
sion was  acrid  and  local  political  feeling 
ran  high  and  vituperation  of  opponents 
was  often  incredibly  bitter,  Mather  Byles's 
witticisms     kept    Boston    laughing    im- 
moderately for  at  least  a  generation,  and 
no  doubt  tended  not  a  little  to  the  soften- 
ing of  asperities  in  the  popular  life,  and 


*    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

it  is  naturaUy  u  one  of  New  England*! 
earlieit  humourists  that  Byles  has  been 
most  conspicuously  mentioned  in  periodicals 
Md  books.    But  the  man  has  an  interest 
far  wider  than  that  of  a  "punning  divine," 
the  age  through  which  he  lived  was  the 
most  dramatic  in  our  annals  and  his  own 
life  lacks  no  single  element  that  gives  the 
time  picturesqueness,  while  the  aloofness 
from  politics  he  persistently  maintained 
puts  him  out  of  the  category  of  those  who 
in  the  fierce  Bevolutnnary  struggle  actively 
helped  or  hindered  ciie  great  cause  to  which 
the  majority  of  his  fellow  townsmen  gave 
their  ardent  support. 

That  no  one  has  hitherto  taken  the 
trouble  to  write  the  life  of  Mather  Byles 
is  not  strange.  He  was  a  grandson  of 
Increase  and  a  nephew  of  Cotton  Mather, 
and  his  striking  personaUty,  his  keen  intel- 
lectual gifts,  and  his  prolific  writings  give 
him  a  worthy  place  beside  those  remarkable 
men,  but  he  lived  through  the  Bevolu- 


THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES    8 

tion  and  in  that  momentout  conflict  gp  'e 
countenance  to  the  losing  side,  and  amc^g 
the  Congregational  ministers  of  New  Eng- 
land, as  with  the  PatrioU  generally,  he 
stood   for  the   rest   of  his   life,  and   his 
name  continued  to  stand  when  he  was 
dead,  as  a  synonym  for  disloyalty  and 
treachery  of  the  basest  kind.    Moreover, 
at  the  evacuation  of  Boston  his  only  living 
son,  Mather  Byles,  Junior,  went  to  Halifax 
with  Howe's  fleet,  and  in  the  Anglican 
church  of  St.  Paul  in  that  town,  and  in 
Trinity   Church,   St.   John,   New  Bruns- 
wick, later,  pursued  the  ministry  which 
he    had    previously    exercised    at    Christ 
Church,  Boston,  and  when  he  died,  all 
his  descendants  were  living,  as  most  of 
them  have  since  lived,  under  the  British 
flag. 

Mather  Byles  has  lately  been  brought 
before  us  picturesquely,  and  probably  in 
a  rather  truthful  way,  in  that  charming 
imaginative  brochure,  that  has  had  wide 


4    THE  FAM0U3  MATHER  BYLES 

rewling.    "Earl    Percy'i    Dinner   Table." 
In  that  book,  we  find  him  during  the 
■iege  of  Boston,  among  British  oflScers  in 
•carlet  tunics  and  gold  Uce,  or  in  the  blue 
uniforms  of  His  Majc^'.y's  Royal  Navy, 
and  rich  gentlemen  mercLuits  of  the  town 
in  silk  and  brqcade,  in  velvet  and  lace,  — 
Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Gunning,  Francis 
Lord  Rawdon;   Lord  Holland's  son,  Hon. 
Henry  Edward  Fox,  Captain  Evelyn  of  the 
King's  Own,  the  young  Cuthbert  CoUing- 
wood.  Major  John  Pitcaim,  Colonel  Isaac 
Royal,   and  Roger  Sheaflfe  —  sipping  his 
port,  and  throwing  the  company  into  fits 
of  laughter  by  his  witty  sallies  on  "the 
holy  hypocrisy  which  is  ruining  the  prov- 
ince," cr  on  much  less  important  personal 
themes.    But "  Eari  Percy's  Dinner  Table  " 
is  only  the  latest  writing  in  which  Doctor 
Byles  figures,  no  faithful  chronicler  of  Rev- 
olutionary Boston  but  exploits  his  "per- 
sistent Toryism,"  or  his  "irrepressible  wit," 
and  no  conscientious  reviewer  of  early  New 


THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES    ft 

England  literature  but  hu  lomething  to 
My  about  the  poetry  and  the  published  dii- 
counes  of  this  brilliant  descendant  of  the 
famous  Mathers,  and  enthusiastic  disciple 
of  the  poet  Pope. 

For  more  than  forty  years  Doctor  Byles 
was  the  faithful  pastor  of  Boston's  Hollis 
Street    Congregational    Church,    and    his 
Jtrildng  gifU  as  a  preacher,  and  the  close 
relationship  he  bore  to  the  Mathers  and 
Cottons,  make  him  an  important  figure  in 
New  England  ecclesiastical  annals.    But 
he  was  besides  a  literary  man  of  much 
ability,  and  reviewers  of  early  New  Eng- 
hmd  prose  and  poetry,  while  not  always 
enthusiastic  in  praise  of  his  literary  pro- 
ductions, have  never  failed  to  take  respect- 
ful notice  of  his  work.    In  the  social  life 
of  Boston,   moreover,   Byles   occupied   a 
highly  important  place,  and  the  marked 
preference  he  uniformly  showed  for  persons 
of  high  official  and  social  rank  quite  evi- 
dently created  against  him  in  the  minds 


6    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

of  his  more  democratic  brethren  of  the 
Massachusetts  clergy,  a  strong  antagonism, 
that  greatly  increased  their  bitterness 
against  him  when  he  finally  gave  the 
weight  of  his  influence  against  the  popular 
cause  in  the  Revolution.  Doctor  Byles 
married  twice  and  by  both  marriages  allied 
himself  with  influential  families  among 
the  ruling  class,  and  in  his  aristocratic 
sympathies,  as  in  his  persistent  loyalty 
to  England,  his  family,  as  was  natural, 
deeply  shared.  As  we  have  previously 
said,  a  conspicuous  refugee  within  the 
British  lines  and  later  resident  in  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia,  whither  like  most  of  the  royal- 
ists of  Boston,  in  March,  1776,  he  fled  with 
General  Howe,  was  his  only  living  son,  who 
for  several  years  previous  to  the  breaking 
out  of  the  Revolution  had  been  the  Rector 
of  Christ  Church,  in  the  north  end  of  his 
native  town. 

That  like  the  rest  of  the  Tories  in  the 
Revolution  Doctor  Byles  was  sentenced 


THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES    7 

to  banishment  our  biography  will  presently 
show,    but   although   formally    proceeded 
against   by   the  authorities   as   a  person 
inimical  to  the  welfare  of  the  sUte,  on 
account  of  his  advanced  age  it  may  be, 
or  perhaps   from   some   lingering   feeling 
that  the  sacredness  of  his  office  as  a  minister 
of  the  ruling  faith  of  New  England  should 
exempt  him  from  the  severest  treatment 
accorded  political  offenders,   he   was  not 
sent  out  of  the  Colony,  but  was  suffered 
to  remain,  a  despised  and   lonely   figure 
however,  in  Boston,  to  the  ena  of  his  days. 
Of  his  last  remaining  descendants  in  Bos- 
ton,   his    two    unmarried    daughters,    the 
Misses  Mary  and  Catherine  Byles,  as  of 
their  brother  Doctor  Mather  Byles.  Junior, 
before  this  book  ends  we  shall  have  some- 
thing to  say.    These  ladies  survived  their 
father  and  lived  on  till  about  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century  in  the  old  house 
in  Tremont  Street  which  their  father  had 
purchased  in  1741.  the  most  picturesque 


8    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 
figures  in  Boston,  cherishing  fondly  the  rec- 
oUecUons  of  the  past,  hating  the  Republic 
whose  birth  extreme  ill-fortune  had  com- 
pelled them  to  see  ushered  in,  and  guarding 
sacredly  their  household  treasures  and  pre- 
cious heiriooms  for  the  descendants  of  their 
brother,  who  lived  under  England's  rule. 
Of  the  actual  forms  and  faces  of  many 
ancient  worthies  of  New  England  we  are 
often  able  to  gain  only  the  vaguest  im- 
pression, in  the  cases  of  some,  however, 
we   are   left   in    no   possible   doubt.    Of 
Doctor    Byles's    friend    Doctor    William 
Walter.  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston, 
we  have  the  minute  information  that  he 
was  a  handsome  man.  tall  and  well  pro- 
portioned,  with  a  serene  countenance,  in- 
dicating a  serene  temper,  and  that  in  the 
street  he  commonly  wore  an  ample  blue 
cloak  over  his  cassock  or  long  frock  coat, 
a  full-bottomed  wig,  dressed  and  powdered, 
knee  breeches  of  fine  black  cloth,  black 
silk   stockings,   and    "square   quartered" 


THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES    0 

shoes  with  sUver  buckles,  his  head  covered 
with  an  impiessive  three-cornered  or  cocked 
hat.    Concerning  Doctor  Byles's  appear- 
ance tradition  has  been    Imost  as  explicit, 
he  was    ^ther  large,  rather  tall,  rather  fine 
looking,  altogether  of  commanding  pres- 
ence, and  both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit 
he  had  a  pleasing  manner  and  voice."    How 
he    commonly    dressed    we    are    nowhere 
plainly  told,  except  that  his  wig  was  ample, 
as  the  fashion  dictated,  that  he  wore  a 
cassock  or  long,  close-fitting  coat,  probably 
with  a  single  row  of  buttons  from  the 
waist  to  the  neck,  that  the  three-cornered 
hat  was  also  his  head  covering,  and  that 
he  usually  carried  a  heavy  cane.    When 
he  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the 
members  of  his   church  for   trial    he    is 
described  as  having  appeared  in  full  flow- 
ing robes,  of  course  with  bands,  but  since 
we  do  not  feel  certain  regarding  the  time 
when  gowns  came  to  be  worn  by  New 
England  Congregational  ministers  in  the 


10    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

pulpit  we  do  not  feel  quite  sure  of  the 
accuracy  of  this  account. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  three  admir- 
able portraits  of  Doctor  Byles,  and  these, 
taken  at  different  times  in  his  career,  in- 
troduce us  very  familiarly    to   his    face. 
The  first  of  these  portraits,  like  the  well- 
known   portrait   of   Cotton   Mather   that 
greets  us  in  so  many  publicaUons.  was 
painted  by  Pelham,  evidently  almost  im- 
mediately after  Doctor  Byles  began  his 
ministry,  the  other  two  were  painted  by 
Copley,  one  it  is  believed  in  1768,  the  other 
in  1774,  the  same  year  in  the  early  summer 
of  which  this  great  painter  left  Boston 
finally  for  Europe.    In  aU  three  of  these 
portraits  Doctor  Byles  is  represented  in 
some  sort  of  classical  drapery,  it  is  pos- 
sible, indeed,  an  ordinary  pulpit  gown,  the 
gown  in  Pelham's  portrait,  however,  being 
painted  a  rich  red.    In  all,  his  wig  is  full 
and  curling,  and  in  the  latter  two  his  face 
shows  the  strong  characteristics  we  have 


THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES  11 

become  so  familiar  with  in  him  as  we  have 
studied  his  life.    Pelham's  portrait  sacri- 
fices strength  to  attractiveness  in  the  sub- 
ject, Copley's,  one  painted  when  Doctor 
Byles  was  about  sixty-one,  the  other  when 
he  was  about  sixty-seven,   show  him  an 
accomplished  looking,  elderly  man,  with 
strong  sense  of  superiority,   keen  intelli- 
gence, great  nervous  energy,  a  high-bred 
IU)man  nose,  eyes  that  might  easily  sparkle 
with   enlivening   humour   or   gleam   with 
fierce  sarcasm,  and  a  firm,  decided  mouth, 
from  which  might  come  the  most  kindly 
encouragements  or  the  most  scathing  and 
bitter  rebukes.    A  commanding  personal- 
ity, in  which  high  principle  predominated, 
but   where    serious    outlook    on    life    was 
frequently  tempered  with  an  almost  riotous 
sense  of  humour,  and  lofty  appreciation 
with  dislike  and  contempt  —  this  is  the 
character  of  Doctor  Byles  that  the  fine 
portraits  of  him  by  Copley  prr  lent  to  our 
minds. 


I  ii 


1«    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Of  these   three   distinguished   portraite 
of  Mather  Byles  the  earliest  one.  that  by 
Pelham,  and  the  first  of  the  two  Copleys. 
are  owned  by  Mr.  Frederick  Lewis  Gay  of 
Brooklme,  Massachusetts,  the  second  Cop- 
ley  IS  still  in  the  possession  of   Doctor 
Byles's  descendants,  its  present  owner  being 
William    Bruce    Almon,    Esq.,  M.D..    of 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.    This  Copley  por- 
trait of  Doctor  Almon's,  with  the  owner's 
kind  permission  we  ar«  able  to  present  as 
the  frontispiece  of  our  book. 


CHAPTER  II 

BiHTH,  Education.  Jouhnalistic 
Wbitings 

In  the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  Boston  was  a  little  town  of 
about  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  its  square 
mile  of  area  coextensive  with  the  peninsula 
on  which  it  was  built,  the  "Neck,"  about 
two  hundred  feet  wide  at  Dover  Street, 
uniting  the  peninsula  with  the  neighbour 
town   of   Roxbury,    there   came   into   the 
North  End  of  Boston,  from  Winchester, 
Hants,    England,    a    respectable    saddler 
named  Josias  Byles.     Until  after  the  Rev- 
olution, well  on  into  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury in  fact,   the  north  part  of  Boston, 
including  Dock  Square  and  Hanover  Street, 
and  the  extreme  North  End,  about  Copp's 
Hill,  a  region  peopled  now  almost  entirely 

13 


14    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

by  Italians,  was  the  home  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  most  active  and  prosperous, 
and  indeed  influential,  people  of  the  town. 
In  1711,  a  little  later  than  the  time  of 
Josias  Byles's  arrival,  the  Honourable  Wil- 
liam Clark  bought  land  on  what  is  now 
North  Square^  and  built  a  handsome  house 
there,  his  friend  Thomas  Hutchinson,  father 
of  the  last  royal  governor,  building  one 
near  that  was  evidently  meant  to  out- 
shine his  in  magnificence. 

Facing  North  Square  stood  the  Old 
North  or  Second  Church,  the  meeting- 
house of  the  religious  society  whose  aflFairs 
were  ruled,  and  for  the  most  part  ruled 
wisely,  for  over  seventy  years,  by  ministers 
of  the  historic  Mather  family,  the  Reverend 
Doctor  Increase  Mather,  his  son  the  illus- 
trious Cotton  Mather,  and  for  a  while, 
until  serious  disaffection  arose  in  the  society 
and  he  moved  away  with  a  portion  of 
his  people  and  founded  a  new  society, 
the  Rev.  Doctor  Samuel  Mather,  Cotton 


REVKREND  INCREASE  MATHER 

From  Uie  urigiual  p&Inting  by  Vanderspriet,  16S8 


S!     !i 


BIRTH  AND  EDUCATION  w 

Mather's  much  lew  important  «on.«    When 
Josiaa  Byles  came  to  Boston,  Doctor  In- 
crease  Mather  was  well  along  in  his  min- 
istry  of  the  Old  North  Church.'  and  his 
son  Cotton  was  colleague  with  him,  the 
older  minister  living  on  North  Street,  the 
younger  probably  then  as  later  living  on 
Hanover  Street,  not  far  from  the  church. 
Josias  Byles  may  have  come  to  Boston 
late  in  169S  or  early  in  1694,  for  he  had 
a   young    child    buried    in    the    Granary 
Buiying  Ground   in  April   of  the  latter 
year,  and  he  undoubtedly  settled  at  once 
in  the  North  End.    When  he  came  his 
family  consisted  of  his   wife  Sarah   and 
three  or  four  young  children,  and  after 
he  had  lived  two  or  three  years  in  Boston, 
on  the   11th  of  October,   1696,  he  con- 
nected himself  formally  with  Doctor  In- 
crease Mather's  church.    In   Boston   the 
Byleses  had  at  least  four  children  bom  and 
soon  after  the  birth  of  her  youngest  child 
M»  Byles  died.    Within  a  year  after  her 


1 1 


J 


W    THE  PAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 
death,  on  the  6th  of  October.   1708.  « 
widoj^,  and  with  several  young  childn.n. 
•  «addler  and  in  not  remarkably  good  cir- 
cumstance.. Joaia.  Byles  married,  rather 
anibitioualy  we  should  suppose,  his  pastor 
Rev.  Incre^e  Mather's  second  daughter. 
EliMbeth.  widow  of  William  Greenough. 
a  lady  of  between  thirty-seven  and  thirty- 
eight  years   old.   Mr.   Byles   being   then 
about  forty-seven. 

After  his  second  marriage  and  probably 
before.   Josias   Byles   lived,    so   traditicu 
«y«.  m   what  became  in   1821   Tileston 
Street,   a   street   first   formally   hiid   out 
about   1806.   which   runs   from   near  the 
lower  end  of  Hanover  Street  to   Salem 
Street  and  is  the  northern  }  undary  of 
the  block  of  which  North  Bennet  Street 
18  the  southern.    In  less  than  five  years 
however,   after   his   second   marriage,    to' 
«ie  last  pursuing  the  saddler's  trade,  Mr 
Byles  suddenly  died,  but  from  these  less 
than  five  years  dates  the  Byles  family's 


V! 


BIRTH  AND  EDUCATION      17 

chief  aubaequent  importance  in   Boston. 
The  precise  event  in  which  the  family's 
conspicuousness  takes  iU  rise  is  the  birth 
on  the  lath  of  March,  1707,  a  little  less 
than  a  year  before  the  father  died,  of  a 
son  whose  coming  into  the  world  uuited 
indissolubly   the   comparatively   unknown 
Byles  family  with  the  great  ecclesiastical 
houses  of  Mather  and  Cotton.    To  this 
son,  who  may  have  appeared  rather  un- 
expectedly, for  so  far  as  we  know  Elizabeth 
Byles  had  never  borne  a  child  before,  in 
recognition  of  his  distinguished  ancestry 
on  his  mother's  side  the  name  Mather 
was  promptly,  most  appropriately  given. 
That  Josias  Byles  should  have  married, 
as  far  as  we  can  tell  without  protest  on 
the  part  of  its  members,  mto  the  notable 
Mather  family,   shows   conclusively   that 
the   late-emigratmg   Englishman   was   re- 
garded as  a  man  of  much  worth,  and  his 
general  good  standing  is  further  declared 
by  Chief-Justice  Sewall's  respectful  men- 


!   1 


11  -' 
i 


18    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

tion  of  him  in  his  famous  Diary,  where, 
under    date    of    "Midweek.    March    17 
1707/8."  he  records:    "my  Country-man! 
Mr   Josiah   Byles    dyed    veiy  suddenly." 
Soon  after  he   writes:    "Reginald   Odell 
dies  suddenly.    Heard  of  it  at  Mr  Byles 
Funeral."    But  it  is  quite  as  evident  that 
the  saddlery  in  Tileston  Street  had  not 
yielded  its  proprietor  very  large  profits, 
for  although  when  Josias  Byles  died  he 
left  a  gentlemanly  will,  in  which  he  bade 
his  children  by  his  first  wife  behave  with 
dutiful  respect  towards  their  stepmother, 
and  charged  his  eldest  son  Josias.  Jr.    to 
give  his  stepmother  all  the  help  he  could 
in  canying  on  the  saddler's  trade  if  she 
wished  to  continue  it.  he  left  veiy  little 
property  for  his  widow  and  her  child  or 
indeed  any  of  his  family,  and  M?  Byles 
soon  had  to  be  helped  by  her  kind  brother 
Cotton.    In  his  journal,  on   the   23d  of 
December.   1711.  Cotton  Mather  writes: 
I  have  a  Sister,  a  Widow,  in  some  Wants 


BIRTH  AND  FDUCATIOM      19 

and  Straits.  I  will  dis  >-n3e  Releffs  unto 
her  particularly  in  regard  of  her  Habit." 
And  again,  January'  17,  1714 :  "I  have  a 
Widow-sister,  who  greaUy  needs  to  be 
putt  into  a  Way  of  subsisting  herself, 
and  to  be  animated  unto  the  use  of  her 
own  vigorous  Endeavours  for  that  Pur- 
pose." Still  again,  January  31,  1714 :  "I 
must  proceed  with  further  Contrivances 
and  Assistances,  that  my  Widow-sister 
may  be  well  provided  for." 

When  the  widow  Byles's  son  Mather 
was  a  little  over  seventeen,  his  grandfather. 
Increase  Mather  died,  and  in  this  learned, 
methodical  minister's  wiU,  which  he  had 
written  about  five  years  before  his  death, 
we  find  the  aged  testator  saying:  "What 
I  give  to  my  daughter  Elizabeth  I  desire 
may  (if  his  mother  can)  be  improved 
towards  y"  education  of  her  only  son  (my 
grandson  Mather  Byles)  in  Learning,  be- 
cause he  is  a  child  whom  God  has  blessed 
with  a  strong  memoiy  &  ready  capacity 


«0    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

&   aptness  to  leam.    I  leave  it  as  my 
dying  Request  to  his  uncle  my  son  Cotton 
Mather,  to  take  care  of  y«  education  of 
y*  child  as  of  his  owne.    If  he  shall  obtain 
subscriptions  for  his  education  for  y*  minis- 
try (as  he  knows  I  have  done  for  more 
fatherless  children  y"  one)  I  am  persuaded 
y*  his  owne  children  will  not  fare  y*  worse 
for  his  being  a  father  to  a  fatherless  chUd. 
To  prevent  his  being  Chargable  as  much 
as  I  can  I  give  him  my  wearing  apparel 
excepting  my  chambei   cloak  w°^  I  give 
to  my  executor. 

"If  ye  Lord  shall  take  away  Mather 
Byles  by  death  before  he  is  of  full  age  (or 
if  he  shall  not  be  employed  in  y*  work  of 
y*  ministiy  it  is  my  mind  &  will  y'  then 
y*  Books  bequeathed  to  him  shall  be 
given  to  such  other  of  my  grand  children 
as  shall  be  preachers  of  y»  Gospel  of  Christ 
according  as  my  executors  shall  dispose." 
A  fourth  part  of  his  library  the  testator 
bequeaths  to  his  fatherless  grandson  Mather 


m 


BIRTH  AND  EDUCATION      21 

Byles,  in  case  Byles  shall  be  "educated  for 
&  employed  in  y  work  of  y  ministiy," 
which  he  much  desires  and  prays  for.  and 
he  mentions  certain  books  he  wishes  him 
to  have,  leaving  others,  however,  to  be 
chosen  by  his  executors. 

That  Cotton  Mather  already  felt  the 
proper  interest  in  his  nephew  is  shown  by 
an  entry  in  his  diary  of  the  ISth  of  April, 
1711,  in  which  he  says  feelingly:   "I  must 
be  much  of  a  Father  to  the  fatherless  child 
of  my  Sister  Biles.     One  thing  I  particularly 
now  propose;    that  I  will  give  him  the 
little  Book  of  'Good  Lessons  for  Children,' 
and  give  him  a  Peece  of  Money  for  ever^ 
one  of  the  Lessons  that  he  learns  without 
a  Book." «    Later,  he  several  times  speaks 
with  the  greatest  solicitude  of  his  nephew's 
poor  physical  condition.     The  boy  is  said 
to  have  been  put  to  school  at  the  North 
Latm  School  in  Bennet  Street,  near  his 
home,  and  at  this  institution  he  probably 
got  his  preparation  for  college.    In  17«1 


82    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


Byles  entered,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the 
college  at  Cambridge,  cf  which  his  grand- 
father Increase  had  been  president  for 
sixteen  years,  where  his  uicle  Cotton  had 
graduated  in  1678,  his  uncle  Nathaniel 
in  1685,  and  his  uncle  Samuel  in  1690, 
and  of  which  every  one  of  his  ministerial 
relatives  who  had  lived  in  and  near  Boston, 
by  virtue  of  his  clerical  o£Sce  had  been  an 
overseer.'  But  towards  the  end  of  his 
college  course  his  health  became  extremely 
<)Oor  and  it  was  feared  he  was  going  to  die 
of  consumption.  March  18, 1724,  his  uncle 
Cotton  writes:  "My  poor  Nephew,  under 
Languishments,  what  shall  be  done  for 
him?"  April  1st,  1724,  he  writes :  "The 
dangerous  condition  of  my  Nephew  M.  B. 
in  regard  of  his  Entring  into  a  Consumption 
requires  me  to  do  all  I  can  for  him;  es- 
pecially to  prepare  him  for  what  he  may 
be  coming  to."  April  22d  he  writes :  "My 
Kinsman,  M.  B.,  being  fallen,  I  doubt,  into 
a  Consumption,  I  must  with  all  possible 


'  i 


m 


ill: 


BIRTH  AND  EDUCATION       SS 

Goodness  and  Concern  sett  myself  to  do  all 
that  I  can  find  proper  to  be  done  for  a 
Nephew  in  such  circumstances."  In  the 
autumn  of  this  year  Byles's  life  was  evi- 
dently despaired  of,  for  on  the  «8th  of  Octo- 
ber Cotton  Mather  writes:  "Lord  what 
shall  I  do,  for  my  two  Nephews,  whose  Life 
drawes  near  to  the  Grave  ?  "  In  spite  of  his 
uncle's  fears,  however,  Byles  fully  recovered, 
and  in  1725,  when  a  little  over  eighteen, 
left  college  with  his  bachelor's  degree.' 

The  Harvard  class  of  which  Mather 
Byles  was  tie  thirteenth  member  in  social 
rank,  a  dozen  of  the  sons  of  public  officials 
and  others  coming  before  him,  at  gradua- 
tion numbered  forty-five,  but  though  earlier 
dasws  had  had  a  large  proportion  of 
ministers  among  their  members,  this  class 
had  besides  Byles,  so  far  as  we  can  dis- 
cover, only  two  who  adopted  a  ministerial 
career.'  Whether  Byles  himself  for  a  time 
after  graduation  wavered  in  his  choice  of 
a  profession  we  do  not  know,  nor  have  we 


!  U<| 


■J 


!'i|l 


j  I 


■'tiii 


«4    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

learned  what  if  any  subsequent  training 
he  took  for  the  ministry,  but  it  was  1789 
before  he  seems  to  have  been  thought  of 
for  a  parish,  and  it  was  not  until  late  in 
1733  that  he  was  ordained.'    It  would  be 
exceedingly  interesUng  to  know  if  we  could 
precisely  what  the  relations  were  between 
Byles   and   his  fellow   students   and   the 
tutors  of  the  college  during  the  four  years 
they  spent  together  at  Harvard,  but  on 
this  point  likewise   we   have  little   light. 
That  Byles  gave  special  attention  to  litera- 
ture, especially  poetry,  is  clearly  the  case 
but  from  his  general  intelligence  and  love 
of  learning  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  he  gave  creditable  care  to  the  routine 
studies  of  his  Freshman,  Sophomore,  Junior 
Sophister,  and  Senior  Sophister  years.    In 
October,  1723,  a  committee  of  visitation, 
of    which    Judge    Scwall    was    chairman, 
made  a  curious  report  on  the  moral  con- 
dition of  the  Harvard  student  body,  in 
which  they  say:    "Although  there  is  a 


BIRTH  AND  EDLCATION      iS 

considerable  number  of  virtuous  and  stu- 
dious youth  in  the  college,  yet  there  has 
been  a  practice  of  several  immoralities; 
particularly  stealing,  lying,  swearing,  idle- 
ness, picking  of  locks,  and  too  frequent  use 
of  strong  drink;  which  immoralities,  it  is 
feared,  still  continue  in  the  college,  notwith- 
standing the  faithful  endeavours  of  the  rulers 
of  the  House  to  suppress  them."  Of  the  two 
contrasted  groups  mentioned  in  this  fierce 
arraignment  of  the  students  of  Harvard  in 
1723  we  judge  that  Mather  Byles  and  his 
intimate  friends  stood  among  the  "virtuous 
and  studious  youth,"  rathf-r  than  among  the 
swearing  and  lying  young  gentlemen  who 
picked  locks  and  were  too  frequently  given 
to  the  use  of  strong  drink,  but  we  should 
also  like  much  to  know  whether  the  anger 
of  the  whole  student  body  and  of  Byles 
among  the  rest  was  not  fiercely  aroused 
by  such  a  defamatory  report  of  tJie  college 
as  had  been  officially  given  by  Sewall  and 
his  censorious  band. 


26    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


^^lilll: 

■!■  Ml'; 


I  liii 


In  Doctor  Byles's  Freshman  year  in 
college  appeared  his  first  literary  produc- 
tion b  print.  The  New  England  Courant, 
the  third  newspaper  to  be  published  in 
Boston,  made  its  earliest  appearance  on 
Monday,  August  7,  1721,  its  owner,  editor, 
and  printer  being  James  Franklin,  Benja- 
min Franklin's  older  brother.  The  jour- 
nalistic cerecr  of  James  Franklin  was  a 
somewhat  turbulent  one,  for  the  spirit  of 
its  editor  was  distinctly  aggressive,  and 
in  his  newspaper  "the  government  of  the 
province  and  its  principal  agents,  the 
clergy,  and  various  individuals,  were  at- 
tacked by  the  editor  and  his  correspon- 
dents, without  much  regard  to  public  or 
personal  character."  •  In  1721  and  1722  an 
engrossing  subject  of  discussion  in  Boston' 
was  the  value  of  inoculation  for  small- 
pox, the  strongest  champions  of  vaccina- 
tion being  the  venerable  Increase  and  his 
son  Cotton  Mather  and  its  most  vigorous 
and  unsparing  opponent  the  editor  of  the 


m 


JOURNAUSTIC  WRITINGS      87 

New  England  Courant.  In  favour  of  in- 
oculation, Increase  Mather  published  a 
prmphlet,  entitled  "  Several  Reasons,  prov- 
ing that  Inoculating  or  Transplanting  the 
Small-Fox  is  a  lawful  Practice,  and  that 
it  has  been  blessed  by  God  for  the  sav- 
ing of  many  a  Life,"  whereupon,  and  for 
their  general  advocacy  of  vaccination,  the 
Courant  lampooned  both  Mathers  unmerci- 
fully, the  Boston  OazetU,  on  the  other  hand, 
taking  their  part  and  exalting  the  practice 
highly.  In  the  course  of  the  controversy, 
in  which  personalities  were  indulged  in  to 
a  degree  which  even  in  these  days  of  news- 
paper license  seems  almost  impossible. 
Doctor  Mather  sent  his  grandson  Mather 
Byles  to  Franklin  with  a  manuscript  article 
giving  an  account  of  the  success  of  inocula- 
tion in  London,  which  Byles  told  the  jour- 
nalist he  himself  had  copied  from  the  London 
Mercury.  Franklin  published  the  article, 
but  later  declared  in  his  paper  that  the 
transcriber  had  changed  it,  so  that  it  was 


«    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

quite  different  from  the  original  article  in 
the  Mercury.  Charging  Byles,  whom  he 
calls  "our  young  spark,"  with  deliberate 
falsehood  in  reference  to  the  article,  he  also 
takes  occasion  to  say  that  any  measure 
whatever  advocated  by  ministers  was  sure 
to  be  from  the  devil,  and  at  least  implies 
that  both  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather 
had  given  currency  to  malicious  state- 
ments concerning  the  conduct  of  his  paper. 
In  a  letter  to  Franklin,  which  this  editor 
prints  in  his  journal  of  January  S9  to 
February  6,  17««,  Doctor  Increase  Mather 
says: 

"M^  Franklin,  I  had  ThoughU  of  taking 
your  Courant  (upon  Tryal)  for  a  Quarter 
of  a  Year,  but  I  shall  not  now.  In  one  of 
your  Courants  you  have  said  that  <f  the 
Miniriera  of  God  are  for  a  Thing  it  is  a 
Sign  it  is  from  the  Devil,  and  have  dealt 
very  falsly  about  the  London  Mercury.  For 
these  and  other  Reasons,  I  shall  No  More 
be  concerned  with  You."    The  malice  of 


JOURNALISTIC  WRITINGS      29 

the  Mathers  against  his  paper,  so  Franklin 
asserts,  had  expressed  itself  definitely  in 
the  slanderous  charges  that  the  Courant 
was  "carried  on  by  a  Hell-Fire  Club, 
with  a  Non-Juror  at  the  head  of  them," 
this  club  being  patterned  after  a  conspicu- 
ous anti-religious  club  of  men  and  women 
in  London,  bearing  the  name  just  given, 
whose  blasphemies,  as  people  regarded 
them,  were  notorious.  In  defending  hia 
paper  against  the  charges  of  the  Mathers 
and  some  other  attacks  of  enemies  of  the 
journal,  Franklin  says :  "These,  with  many 
other  Endeavours,  proceeding  from  an  arbi- 
trary and  Selfish  temper,  have  been  at- 
tended with  their  hearty  Curses  on  the 
Courant  and  its  Publisher;  but  all  to  no 
purpose;  for,  (as  a  Connecticut  trader 
once  said  of  his  onions)  The  more  they  are 
cursed,  the  more  they  grow.  Notwithstand- 
ing which,  a  young  scribbling  Collegian, 
who  has  just  Learning  enough  to  make  a 
Fool  of  himself,  has  taken  it  in  his  Head 


i'ij-'' 


80    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

to  put  a  Stop  to  this  Wickedness,  (as  he 
calls  it)  by  a  Letter  in  the  last  Week's 
Gazette.    Poor  Boy !    When  your  Letter 
comes  to  be  seen  in  other  Countries,  (under 
the  Umbrage  of  Authority)   what  indeed 
will  they  think  of  New-England!     They 
will   certainly ,  conclude,    There  is  bloody 
fishing  for  nonsense  at  Cambridge,  and 
sad    work    at    the    CMedge.    The    young 
Wretch,  when  he  calls  those  who  wrote 
the   several    Pieces    in    the   Courant    the 
Hell-Fire   Club   of  Boston,   and   finds   a 
Godfather  for  them,  (which,  by  the  way, 
is  a  Hellish  Mockery  of  the  Ordinance  of 
Baptism,  as  administered  by  the  Church 
of  England,)   and  tells  us.   That  all  the 
Supporters  of  the  paper  will   be  looked 
upon  as  Destroyers  of  the  Religion  of  the 
Country,    and    Enemies    to    the    faithful 
Ministers  of  it.  little  thinks  what  a  cruel 
Reflection    he    throws    on    his    Reverend 
Grandfather,  who  was  then,  and  for  some 
time  before,  a  Subscriber  for  the  Paper." 


JOURNALISTIC  WRITINGS      81 

Byles's  "letter  in  last  week's  Gazette" 
to  which  Franklin  refers  with  such  con- 
tempt will  be  found  in  the  Gazette  of  Jan- 
uary 15,  1722.     It  reads  as  follows : 

"Cabibhidgb,  January  11, 1721  [old  style] 

"MJ  MUSORATE, 

"When  I  read  the  Crimes  laid  to  your 
Charge  in  the  Scandalous  Courant  last 
Monday  I  was  in  some  danger  of  enter- 
taining a  hard  Character  of  you;  but 
when  I  read  on  a  little  further,  the  danger 
was  over.  Finding  the  Wretches  Charge 
you  as  imposing  on  the  Publick  when  you 
inserted  these  words  from  the  London 
Mercury,  September  16,  Great  Numbers 
in  this  City,  and  Suburbs  are  under  the 
Inoculation  of  the  Small  Pox:  Every  one 
said  That  if  these  Words  were  indeed 
there,  the  Publishers  of  this  Impious  and 
Abominable  Courant,  must  be  the  most 
Audacious  and  Brazen-fac'd  Liars  in  the 
World;    not  a  Word  is   to  be  believed 


\    ^=:cv! 


Ill 


88    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

that  shall  be  uttered  by  Fellows  of  such 
matchless    and     uncommon     Impudence. 
Accordingly  we   examined    the   Mercury, 
and   found   the   words   every   Syllable  of 
them  there.    So  we  all  concluded  that  you 
might  be  an  honest  Man,  till  better  Men 
than  they  can  prove  an  ill  thing  upon  you. 
"Every  one  aees  that  the  main  intention 
of  this  Vile  Courant,  is  to  Vilify  and  Abuse 
the  best  Men  we  have,  and  especially  the 
Principal    Ministers    of   Religion    in    the 
Country.    And  tho'   they  have  been  so 
left  of  God,  and  of  Sense,  as  to  tell  People 
in  Print,  that  they  live  in  a  Wickedness, 
which  no  country  besides,  whether  Chris- 
tian. Turkish,  or  Pagan,  was  ever  known 
to  be  guilty  of;    yet  they  go  on  in  it; 
and  in  this  last  Courant  they  taught  the 
People,  That  if  the  MinUters  do  approve, 
admse  a  thing,  'tis  a  Sign  that  U  ia  0/ 
the  Deva.    You  see  Sir.  that  you  have 
Company    of    which    you    need    not    be 
ashamed. 


JOURNALISTIC  WRITINGS      SS 

"H  such  an  horrid  Paper,  called  the 
Nerw  England  Courant,  should  be  seen  in 
other  Countries,  what  would  they  think  of 
New-England  !  If  you  call  this  Crew,  the 
Hell-Fire  Club  of  Boston,  your  Friend  Camp- 
bell will  stand  God-father  for  it;  having 
in  one  of  his  News  Papers  formerly  assign 'd 
this  proper  Name  for  them.  And  all  the 
sober  People  in  the  Country  will  say. 
They  deserve  it.  .  .  .  Be  sure,  all  the 
Supporters  of  this  Paper  will  be  justly 
looked  upon,  as  the  Supporters  of  a  Weekly 
Libel  written  on  purpose  to  destroy  the 
Religion  of  the  Country,  and  as  Enemies 
to  the  faithful  Ministers  of  it.  And  if 
this  Hell-Fire  Paper  be  still  carried  on, 
you  shall  have  a  List  of  their  Names,  that 
all  the  Sober  People  in  the  Country  may 
know  who  they  are.  I  am  not  my  self  a 
Minister,  nor  have  I  advised  with  any 
such  for  this  Letter;  nor  did  I  ever  yet 
publish  any  thing.  But  there  is  a  Num- 
ber of  us,  who  resolve,  that  if  this  wicked- 


I  :') 


84    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

ness  be  not  stop'd,  we  will  pluck  up  our 

Courage,  and  see  what  we  can  do  in  our 

way  to  stop  it." 

lam 

"Sir,  Your  Servan*." 

[The  Signature  not  given.] 

When  we  crime  to  discuss  Mather  Byles 
as  a  poet  we  shall  see  that  he  himself 
aflSrms  that  in  college  he  wrote  a  con- 
siderable number  of  poems,  but  whether  the 
letter  he  wrote  to  the  Gaxette  during  the  in- 
oculation controversy  was  his  only  as  well  as 
his  first  contribution  to  journalism  while  he 
was  an  undergraduate  we  cannot  now  tell. 
In  March,  1727,  however,  when  he  had  been 
almost  two  years  out  of  college,  he  connected 
himself  as  an  editorial  writer  and  contribu- 
tor of  articles  in  prose  and  poetry  on  impor- 
tant events  of  the  day,  with  a  newly  starting 
modest  newspaper  called  the  New-England 
Weekly  JoumalM    The  paper  lasted  until 
1741,  when  it  was  incorporated  with  the 
Boston  Gazette,  and  in  its  early  years,  at 


JOURNALISTIC  WRITINGS      85 

least,  Byles  contributed  to  it  a  good  many 
conspicuous  prose  articles  and  such  poems 
as  that  on  the  death  of  King  George  I 
and  the  accession  of  George  II,  his  flatter- 
ing welcome  to  Governor  Burnet,  his  "Con- 
flagration," and  his  "Verses  written  in 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost."  The  signature 
to  his  prose  articles,  when  they  are  signed, 
is  one  of  the  letters  C  E  L  O  I  Z  A. 

Precisely  how  intimate  Byles  was  with 
his  uncle  Cotton  Mather  during  the  years 
he  spent  in  Cambridge  and  until  Mather 
died,  in  1728,  we  should  much  like  to 
know,  but  we  cannot  help  believing  that 
Mather's  influence  was  strong  with  him, 
and  that  in  the  intercourse  he  had  with 
this  remarkable  man  Mather  stimulated 
Byles's  intellectual  activity,  while  he  gave 
his  cordial  approval  to  his  nephew's  con- 
nexion with  the  Weekly  Journal.  Whether 
Mather,  however,  had  anything  directly 
to  do  with  Byles's  training  in  theology  or 
homiletics,  or  whether  before  Mather  died 


1-^ 

i  '  i'  ,  j 

•  i  ,1  'i 

1    '"i  /I 

II 

ill  I 

i 


36    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

it  was  even  decided   that  Byles  should 
enter  the  ministry  we  have  seen  no  record 
whatever  to  show.    In  the  Weekly  Journal 
of  February  nineteenth,  1728,  appeared  a 
laudatory    obituary    of    Cotton    Mather, 
which   we   believe   bears   strong   internal 
evidence    of   having    been   composed    by 
Mather  Byles.    It  reads  in  part  as  follows : 
"Last  Tuesday  in  the  forenoon  between 
8  and  9  o'clock  died  here  the  very  Reverend 
Cotton  Mather,  Doctor  in  Divinity  of 
Glesgo  and  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society 
in  London,  Senior  Pastor  of  the  Old  North 
Church   in   Boston,   and   an   overseer   of 
Harvard  College ;  by  whose  Death  persons 
of  all  ranks  are  in  Concern  and  Sorrow. 
He  was  perhaps  the  principal  ornament 
of  this  Country,  and  the  greatest  scholar 
that  was  ever  bred  in  it."    The  notice 
then  goes  on  to  tell  of  Mather's  extensive 
charity,  entertaining  wit,  singular  goodness 
of  temper,  and  the  Divine  Composure  and 
joy  with  which  he  finished  his  Career." 


CHAPTER  m 

Ordination  and  First  Marriage 

In  1789  Mather  Byles  evidently  felt 
himself  ready  for  ordination,  for  in  Clapp'a 
"Ancient  Proprietors  of  Jones  Hill,  Dor- 
chester" we  find  the  statement,  no  doubt 
taken  from  the  Dorchester  church  records, 
that  in  that  year,  of  three  candidates  con- 
sidered for  the  position  of  colleague  to 
the  aged  Dorchester  pastor.  Rev.  John 
Danforth,  Mr.  Byles  was  one.  The  person 
chosen,  however,  was  the  Rev.  Jonathan 
Bowman,  and  for  some  reason  Mr.  Byles's 
ordination,  as  we  have  said,  did  not  take 
place  until  December  20,  1733,  more  than 
eight  years  after  his  graduation  from  col- 
lege. Up  to  173*  the  Congregational 
churches  of  Boston  numbered  seven,  the 
First  Church  organized  in  1630;  the  Second 

91 


;m..: 


38    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

or  Old  North,  in  1650;  the  Old  South  in 
1669;  the  "Manifesto  Churth,"  later  the 
Church  meetiiig  in  Brattle  Square,  in 
1690;  the  New  North,  whose  meeting- 
house was  on  Hanover  Street,  in  1714; 
the  church  whose  meeting-house  was  on 
Church  Green,!  in  1719 ;  and  the  Federal 
Street  Church  (which  began  as  a  Pres- 
byterian Church  but  became  Congrega- 
tional), in  1727.  In  January,  1730,  the 
Honourable  Jonathan  Belcher,  who  like 
his  father,  M;  Andrew  Belcher,  had  be- 
come what  Boston  historians  euphemis- 
tically term  a  "very  opulent  merchant," 
and  consequently  a  person  of  high  im- 
portance in  the  commercial  town,  by  adroit 
political  management  while  in  England 
had  been  able  to  get  the  appointment  of 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  Hon- 
ourable William  Tailer  had  been  restored 
to  the  lieutenant-governorship,  which  he 
had  held  some  time  before.  By  this  time 
in  the  south  suburb  of  the  town,  bordering 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRUGE    S9 

on  the  Neck,  and  especially  along  Orange 
(Washington)  Street,  a  good  many  houses 
had  been  built,  one  of  which,  near  the 
junction  of  HoUis  and  Orange  Streets,  was 
Governor  Belcher's  own  country  house. 
From  his  father,  Andrew  Belcher,  the  Gov- 
ernor had  inherited  in  this  region  a  consid- 
erable quantity  of  land,  which  he  probably 
wanted  to  sell,  and  naturally  he  was 
anxious  to  give  people  every  inducement 
he  could  to  settle  here.  The  Boston 
churches  we  have  enumerated  were  then 
all  located  either  in  the  North  End  of  the 
town  or  near  the  centre  of  the  peninsula, 
and  Belcher  among  others  determined  to 
erect  a  chuh:h  in  Hollis  Street.  Accordingly 
this  opulent  merchant,  then  and  for  nine 
years  longer  the  chief  official  of  the  prov- 
ince," gave  a  deed  of  a  building  lot  for  a 
meeting  house;  on  the  14th  of  November, 
1732,  a  new  religious  society  was  organized, 
and  on  the  20th  of  December,  1733,  Mather 
Byles  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  church. 


im 


m\ 


40    THE  FAMOUS  SiATHER  BYLES 

Of  the  begiimmg  of  this  church  the 
author  of  the  Hiitory  of  the  Old  South 
Church  Mya:  "The  South  Church  took 
much  interest  in  the  gathering  of  HoUis 
Street  Church,  which  was  formed  Novem- 
ber 14.  Governor  Belcher  gave  the  land 
on  which  the  meeting  house  had  been 
built;  and  Doctor  Sewall  drew  up  the 
form  of  covenant.  Mather  Byles,  grand- 
son of  Increase  Mather,  was  ordained  as 
its  first  minister,  December  80."  "This 
day  [November  14,  1738],"  says  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Sewall,  "was  kept  as  a  Day  of 
Prayer  by  the  New  Society  at  the  South. 
Mf  Checkly  began,  then  Mr.  Cooper 
prayed.  Doctor  Colman  preach'd  from 
2  Cor.  8:6.  Then  Mr.  Webb  prayd. 
Thirteen  of  the  Brethren  entred  into 
Covenant,  forming  a  distinct  Church.  I 
read  the  Covenant  to  them  and  then 
Prayd."  Und^i  date  of  December  80th, 
Mr.  Sewall  says:  "M?  Byles  was  or- 
dain'd  to  the  New  Church.     M'-  Prince 


im 


m 


\Hm  I 


OBDINATION  AND  liARRUGE    41 

begin  with  Pmy'r.  Mi.  Bylet  pratch'd 
from  *  Timothy  S :  17.  Then  Mr.  Walter 
pray'd.  I  gave  the  Charge,  and  D?  Col- 
man  the  right  hand  of  Fellowahip." "« 

From  the  time  of  his  aettlement  over 
the  HolUs  Street  Churoh,  m  indeed  moat 
likely  before,  Mr.  Byles  was  evidently  on 
terms  of  the  closest  friendship  with  Gover- 
nor Belcher,  though  whether  the  governor 
at  any  time  of  year  commonly  attended 
service  at  the  new  churoh,  having  his 
pew  in  the  Old  South,  where  ever  since  iU 
removal  from  Cambridge  the  Belcher  family 
had  been  accustomed  to  worship,  we  do 
not  know.  With  the  Governor's  family, 
also,  the  young  minister  was  as  intimate 
as  with  the  Governor  himself,  and  on  the 
14»  of  February,  178S.  Mather  Byles 
married,  no  doubt  with  his  patron's  high 
approval,  the  governor's  niece,  a  young 
widow,  M?  Anna  Noyes  Gale. 

One  of  the  most  important  gentlemen 
in  Boston  shortly  before  this  time,  a  man 


11 


4S    THE  FAMOUS  MATIIER  BYLES 

who  stood  quite  as  high  socially  as  Gover- 
nor Belch<ir,   was  Doctor  Oliver   Noyes, 
son  of  John  and  Sarah  Oliver  Noyes,  a 
physician  practising  in  Boston  and  Med- 
ford,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  of  the  class 
of    1695.    Though    a    busy    man    in    his 
profession.  Doctor  Noyes  shared  actively 
in  all  the  local  enterprises  calculated  to 
develop  Boston,  a  conspicuous  one  of  these 
being  the  building  of  the  famous  "Long 
Wharf."    The  first  wife  of  Doctor  Noyes 
was  Ann  Belcher,  a  younger  sister  of  the 
governor,  who  bore  her  husband  six  chil- 
dren,  the  eldest  of  these  being  Doctor 
Byles's  wife.    Anna  Noyes  was  bom  April 
17,  1704,  and  January  81,  1782,  was  mar- 
ried to  Azor  Gale,  Jr.,  of  a  Marblehead 
family,   but  her  young  husband  did  not 
live  long,  and  as  we  have  said,  on  the  14*!* 
of   February,    1733,   in   her  twenty-ninth 
year,  she  once  more  entered  wedlock  as 
the  wife  of  Rev.  Mather  Byles.     During 
his  socially  brilliant  but  poUtically  tur- 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE    4S 

bulent  eleven  years'  administration  of  the 
government  of  Massachusetts,  Governor 
Belcher  may  have  lived  in  summer  in  his 
house  in  Orange  Street,  in  the  south  sub- 
urbs, and  in  winter  in  the  Province  House 
in  town,  for  the  marriage  of  his  niece 
Anna,  whose  father  was  dead,  and  who 
was  thus  probably  murJi  under  her  uncle's 
care,  to  Mather  Byles,  took  place  in  the 
magnificent  official  residence  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts governors."  Weird  tales,  as  we 
know,  weird  and  impossible  tales,  were 
woven  by  Hawthorne  about  this  same 
famous  Province  House,  and  it  is  pleasant 
in  contrast  to  picture  to  ourselves  the 
festive  scene  of  a  wedding  in  the  official 
mansion.  The  Province  House  had  been 
acquired  by  the  Massachusetts  govern- 
ment from  the  heirs  of  the  original  owner, 
Peter  Sergeant,  and  when  it  was  bought 
no  pains  had  been  spared  to  make  it  an 
elegant  official  residence.  The  house,  which 
stood  a  little  back  from  what  is  now  Wash- 


44    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


ington  Stieet,  almost  opposite  the  Old 
South  Church,  was  of  brick,  thiee  stories 
high,  and  was  approached  by  a  stone 
pavement,  which  led  to  a  flight  of  massive 
ted  freestone  steps,  and  these  to  a  door- 
way, which  Shurtleff  in  his  "Topographical 
and  Historical  Description  of  Boston," 
with  pardonable  enthusiasm  declares  might 
have  rivalled  the  doorways  of  the  palaces 
of  Europe.  Trees  of  very  large  size,  giving 
abundant  shade,  stood  in  front  of  the  house 
and  added  much  to  its  external  attractive- 
ness. Inside,  as  a  setting  for  the  Gale- 
Byles  wedding,  we  have  alluring  visions 
cf  broad  staircases,  carved  balustrades, 
escutcheon-decorated  walls,  more  or  less 
valuable  family  portraits,"  rich  carpets, 
and  finely  carved  mahogany  tables  and 
chairs.  Into  the  great  state  chamber, 
where  vice-regal  levees  were  always  held, 
a  wide  double  door  gave  entrance,  and 
there  we  see  also  among  other  things  the 
chimney  piece,  set  round  with  blue-figured 


PROVINCE  BOUSE 


ii: 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE    45 

Dutch  porcelain  tUes,  which  so  attracted  the 
attention  of  Hawthorne,  who  when  the  old 
Province  House  had  come  to  be  a  humble 
tavern  wrote  the  stories  in  which  it  figures, 
in  his  "Twice  Told  Tales."    Unless  the 
wedding  in  question  was  an  entirely  private 
ceremony,  to  the  function  would  naturally 
have  come  the  very  flower  of  the  Boston 
aristocracy  of  the  day,  for  the  bride  and 
groom  were  both  scions  of  families  recog- 
nized as  of  the  highest  local  importance, 
and  we  may  be  sure  that  Governor  Belcher's 
"opulence"  and  his  taste  for  magnificent 
display  would  have  made  this  wedding 
in   the   gubernatorial   mansion,   where   so 
many  brilliant  functions  had  already  taken 
place,  one  of  the  finest  social  affairs  of 
the  year.    Of  the  relatives  of  the  young 
bride  and  groom,  the  bride's  brother.  Bel- 
cher Noyes  was  probably  there,  and  also 
her  sister  Sarah,  who  had  married  a  Pul- 
sifer  of  Plymouth.    The  Governor's  son 
Andrew,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  of  1784, 


til 


46    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


k| 


who  later  married  Emilia  Louisa  Teal  of 
New  Jersey,  daughter  of  uis  father's  second 
wife  by  her  first  husband,  and  lived  in 
Milton  in  fine  style,  was  no  doubt  a  guest. 
The  Governor's  daughter  Sarah,  who  had 
been  married  between  five  and  six  years 
before  to  Mr.  Byfield  Lyde,  with  her 
husband  was  surely  present,  and  Doctor 
Byles's  mother  Elizabeth,  then  well  on 
towards  seventy,  his  aunts,  Maria  Mather, 
wife  of  Richard  Fifield,  and  Sarah  Mather, 
wife  of  Rev.  Nehemiah  Walter  of  Roxbury 
were  probably  there;  and  most  naturally 
some  of  Mather  Byles's  cousins,  the  re- 
maining children  of  his  uncle  Cotton, 
notably  Rev.  Doctor  Samuel  Mather,  who 
a  little  later  married  a  sister  of  Governor 
Thomas  Hutchinson.  Other  Belchers,  and 
Byfields,  and  Lydes,  and  no  doubt  some 
of  the  Hutchinsons  probably  graced  the 
event,  and  although  the  wedding  was  of 
a  yoimg  Congregational  widow  to  a  young 
Congregational  parson,  the  Rev.  Thomas 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE    47 

Prince  of  the  Old  South  performing  the 
service,  it  is  possible  that  the  aristocratic 
.King's  Chapel  congregation  was  almost 
as  liberally  represented  as  that  of  the  Old 
South  or  the  Old  North. 

The  social  history  of  Boston  in  the  long 
Provincial  period,  before  the  Revolution 
came  to  change  to  a  democracy  the  whole 
aristocratic  structure  of  the  popular  life, 
has  never  yet  with  any  fulness  been  por- 
trayed. Important  fragmentary  glimpses 
we  get  of  the  life  at  various  epochs,  in 
brief  descriptions  of  visiting  Englishmen  or 
through  the  diaries  and  letters  of  a  few 
citizens,  but  for  the  most  part  we  are  left 
to  reconstruct  it  in  our  own  imaginations, 
as  we  are  obliged  to  do  that  of  New  York 
or  Philadelphia,  or  the  still  more  intensely 
dramatic  plantation  life  of  the  South  in  the 
same  and  at  a  later  period.  After  the 
Revolution  the  only  town  on  the  conti- 
nent where  the  chief  features  of  this  life 
were   strongly   perpetuated   was   Hl^lif^^x, 


48    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Nova  Scotia,  where  the  Boston  Tories  all 
found  temporary  shelter  and  where  many 
of  them  permanently  remained,  where 
through  a  thriving  West  Indian  trade 
-  considerable  fortunes  were  able  to  be  ac- 
cumulated, where  the  presence  of  the 
army  and  navy,  in  even  greater  force, 
indeed,  than  had  ever  been  true  of  Boston, 
added  the  peculiar  picturesqueness  that 
has  always  belonged  to  important  military 
and  naval  stations  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  where  dignified  old-world  class  dis- 
tinctions were,  until  beyond  the  period  of 
Confederation,  and  to  the  natural  dis- 
persion of  many  of  the  older  families, 
unchallengedly  maintained. 

Of  Boston  social  life  generally  among 
the  upper  classes  at  the  time  of  Doctor 
Byles's  marriage,  we  have  in  our  minds  a 
pretty  clear  picture.  W  Joseph  Beni\ttt, 
an  English  traveller,  in  1740  wrote  an 
animated  history  of  New  England,  with 
an  account  of  his  travels  here,  in  which  he 


ORDINATION  AND  MARMAGE    49 

describes  it  with  a  good  deal  of  minute- 
ness.   "There    are    several    families    in 
Boston,"  he  says,  "that  keep  a  coach  and 
pair  of  horses ;  but  for  chaises  and  saddle- 
horses,  considering  the  bulk  of  the  place 
they    outdo    London.    They    have    some 
nimble,  lively  horses  for  the  coach,  but 
not  any  of  that  beautiful  hirge  black  breed 
so  common  in  London.  ...    The  gentle- 
men ride  out  here  as  in  England,  some  in 
chaises,   and   others   on   horseback,   with 
their  negroes  to  attend  them.    They  travel 
in  much  the  same  manner  on  business  as 
for  pleasure,  and  are  attended  in  both 
by  their  black  equipages.  .  .  .    For  their 
domestic    amusements,    every    afternoon, 
after    drinking    tea,    the   gentiemen    and 
ladies  walk  the  MaU,  and  from  thence 
adjourn  to  one  another's  houses  to  spend 
the   evening,  —  those   that   are   not   dis- 
posed to  attend  the  evening  lecture;  which 
they  may  do,  if  they  please,  six  nighU  in 
seven,  the  year  round. 


BO    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


"YfiuA  they  call  the  Mall  is  a  walk  on 
a  fine  green  Common  adjoining  to  the 
■outhwest  side  of  the  town.  It  is  near 
half  a  mile  over,  with  two  rows  of  young 
trees  planted  opposite  to  each  other,  with 
a  fine  footway  between,  in  imitation  of 
St.  James's  Park;  and  part  of  the  bay  of 
the  sea  which  encircles  the  town,  taking 
its  course  along  the  north-west  side  of  the 
Common,  —  by  which  it  is  bounded  on 
the  one  side,  and  by  the  country  on  the 
other,  —  forms  a  beautiful  canal,  in  view 
of  the  walk. 

"The  government  being  in  the  hands  of 
dissenters,  they  don't  admit  of  plays  or 
music-houses.  ,  .  .  But,  notwithstanding 
plays  and  such  like  diversions  do  not 
obtain  here,  they  don't  seem  to  be  dis- 
pirited nor  moped  for  want  of  them;  for 
both  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  dress  and 
appear  as  gay,  in  common,  as  courtiers 
in  England  on  a  coronation  or  birthday. 
And  the  ladies  here  visit,  drink  tea,  and 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRUGE    »1 

indulge  every  little  piece  of  gentility,  to 
the  height  of  the  mode;  and  neglect  the 
affairs  of  their  families  with  as  good  a 
grace  as  the  finest  ladies  in  London."" 
"These  people  have  the  air  of  having 
been  bred  at  courts,"  some  ol^er  English 
visitor  to  Boston  writes  home,  "where 
did  they  get  it  ?"  and  a  more  recent  writer 
in  the  "Dictionary  of  National  Biography," 
sketching  the  life  of  John  Singleton  Cop- 
ley, describes  the  Boston  society  to  which 
Copley  belonged  as  "composed  of  remark- 
able elements,  in  which  learning  and 
general  culture,  statesmanship,  and  busi- 
ness capacity,  borrowed  refinement  from 
the  presence  of  many  women  conspicuous 
for  beauty  and  accomplishments."  In  his 
able  "History  of  King's  Chapel,"  Rev. 
Henry  Wilder  Foote  suggests  to  us  the 
fashion  and  wealth  of  the  pre-Revolution- 
ary  congregation  of  that  historic  church. 
He  gives  us  glimpses  of  the  Royal  Governors 
in  their  pew  of  state,  hung  with  red  cur- 


■    n| 

M 


01    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Uint,  and  raited  Mveiml  stepa  abovt  the 
floor,  as  it  stood  under  the  sovth  gallery; 
of  the  uniformed  officers  of  the  British 
army  and  navy  who  for  many  years  came 
here  to  pray;  and  of  the  aristocratie 
native-bom  worshippers,  in  brocade  and 
velvet,  in  ruffles  and  lace,  —  the  Apthorps, 
and  Royalls,  and  Vassals,  and  Wentworths, 
—  who  with  dignified  bearing  and  reverent 
mien  trod  the  church's  aisles,  and  knelt 
for  worship  in  its  square  pews. 

To  the  conspicuous  richness  of  the  Bos- 
ton  people's  dress  in  the  Provincial  period 
we  are  well  introduced  by  Copley's  por- 
traits, as  Mr.  Frank  W.  Bayley  of  the 
"Copley  Gallery"  has  described  them. 
John  Amory,  senior,  for  example,  appears 
in  his  portrait  in  a  gold-laced  brown  velvet 
coat,  M*?  Amory  m  rich  yellow  satin  or 
silk.  M?  John  Apthorp  b  arrayed  in 
blue  silk,  edged  at  the  neck  with  white 
lace.  She  wears  also  a  pink  scarf,  fastened 
at  the  waist  by  a  pearl  pin,  and  has  a 


ORDINATION  AND  HiABBUGE    U 

collar  of  three  rows  of  pearls  round  '  er 
neck.    Mf  John  Barrett  has  on  a  robe  of 
olive  brown   brocaded   damask.    Thomas 
Aston  Coflan,  as  a  child,  is  dressed  in  :. 
low-necked  sacque  of  green  satin,  over  <i 
dress  of  white  satin,  richly  embroider  , 
with  lace,  and  has  a  hat  with  pIunvM. 
Timothy  Pitch  is  arrayed  in  a  gold- !at  eel 
coat  and   waistcoat,  and  silk  stockings. 
M»  Fitch  is  in  purplish  pink  satin,  with 
blue  lining.    Mf  John  Forbes  is  dressed 
in  yellow  satin,  ornamented  with  silver 
lace,  the  short  sleeves  of  her  gown  edged 
with  rich  lace.    She  wears  a  large  hoop, 
her  hair,  decorated  with  a  white  bow.  is 
dressed  over  a  cushion,  and  she  has  on  a 
necklace   and    earrings    of   pearls.    Anne 
Gardiner,  who  married  Captain  the  Hon- 
ourable  Arthur  Browne,   wears   a   white 
satin  dress  trimmed  with  pearls,  and  holds 
in  her  left  hand  a  pink  silk  mantle.    Moses 
Gill  wears  a  dark  blue  velvet  coat,  lined 
with  white  satin,  andlike  many  of  Copley's 


i   I 


«4    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

men  has  a  powdered  wig.  The  first  M? 
Gill,  a  daughter,  by  the  way,  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Prince,  b  in  dark  blue  velvet, 
witn  muslin  undersleeves,  ending  in  double 
ruffles,  and  she  too  has  pearls  on  her  neck. 
The  second  M.f  Gill,  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  Boylston,  has  on  blue  velvet  or 
satin,  with  a  red  velvet  band  embroidered 
with  gold  around  the  bosom.  Harrison 
Gray,  the  noted  Loyalist,  is  painted  in 
brown  velvet,  with  lace  at  the  wrists  and 
neck,  and  wears  a  gray  wig,  with  a  queue. 
That  young  Mather  Byles's  bride  Anna 
was  not  the  clergyman's  first  love  wt-  nje 
led  to  believe  from  one  of  the  well-known 
witticisms  perpetrated  by  Byles  probably 
soon  after,  or  perhaps  even  before,  he  left 
college.  Indeed  it  would  be  rather  strange 
if  she  had  been,  for  at  the  time  of  his 
marriage  the  susceptible  young  gentleman 
had  reached  the  age  of  almost  twenty-six. 
The  pun  we  refer  to  was  on  his  own  and 
another   distinguished    name    in    Boston, 


ill: 


ORDINATION  AND  MARRIAGE    65 

and  the  quick  retort  it  called  forth  showed 
that  others  of  his  contemporaries  had  a 
measure  of  the  ready  humour  in  which 
Byles  excelled.    It  u  said  that  one  day 
meeting  a  lad;,  to  whom  he  had  previously 
paid  court  unsuccessfully,  and  who  was 
then  married  or  about  to  be  married  to  a 
Quincy,    Byles    said    jocosely:     "I    see, 
Madam,  that  you  prefer  the  Quincy  to 
Byles."    "Yes,"    the    lady    is    reported 
promptly  to  have  answered,  "for  if  there 
were  any  ailment  worse  than   bik»  God 
would  have  afflicted  Job  with  it.""    We 
have  nowhere  found  it  stated  who  the  lady 
who  was  so  discriminating  in  her  choice  of 
diseases  was,  but  we  feel  very  sure  from 
our  knowledge  of  the  Quincy  family  and 
their  marriages  that  she  could  have  been 
no   other   than   Elizabeth   Wendell,   who 
was   married   April    15,    1725,   to   Judge 
Edmund  Quincy,  and  became  the  mother 
of  M"?  John  Hancock,  the  sprightly,  at- 
tractive, somewhat  famous  lady  known  as 


fi6    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"Dorothy  Q."  If  this  was  really  the  lady 
she  was  about  three  years  older  than 
Doctor  Byles,  and  was  loved  by  that 
ardent  swain  before  he  was  himself 
eighteen." 


ri 


CHAPTER  IV 

EVEMTB  IN  EaHUER  MiNIBTRT 

Whebb  PotoOT  Byles  may  have  lived 
from  the  beginning  of  his  ministry  at 
HoUis  Street  Church  until  1741,  we  do 
not  know,  but  it  seems  quite  possible 
that  Governor  Belcher  may  have  furnished 
him  with  a  house  somewhere  near  his 
own.  To  whatever  dwelling  he  took  his 
bride  Anna  he  seems  also  to  have  taken 
his  widowed  mother  Elizabeth,  for  on 
the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  1734,  he 
Kcorda  in  his  church  register  that  his 
"aged  mother"  had  on  that  day  been 
received  into  communion  at  HoUis  Street 
from  the  North  Church,  to  which  she  had 
previously  belonged."    A  little  less  than 


lit 

i  ' 


fe 


»8    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

three  years  from  the  begiiming  of  his 
pastorate,  the  young  minister  was  called 
to  share  the  sorrow  of  his  beloved  patron. 
Governor  Belcher,  in  the  death  of  the 
latter's  esteemed  first  wife."  Mf  Belcher 
had  apparently  died  at  the  Governor's 
house  in  Orange  Strfeet,  for  the  News- 
Letter  of  October  14,  1736,  intimates  that 
her  funeral  procession  moved  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  through  die  town,  its 
statement  being  that  along  the  streets 
through  which  it  passed  the  tops  of  the 
houses  and  the  windows  were  crowded 
with  spectators.  At  the  house,  before  the 
cortege  started,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Sewall 
of  the  Old  South  made  a  prayer,  and  then 
the  procession  took  its  way  through  the 
town  to  the  Granary  Burying  Groimd, 
where  the  Governor  in  1720  h?.d  b'lilt  a 
tomb.  The  description  in  the  Neiws-Letter 
adds  that  "the  co£Sn  was  covered  with 
black  velvet  and  ricUy  adorned.  The 
pall   was   supported   by   the   Honourable 


In 

\ 

I 


DiufMATHER  BVLES 

Frun  the  original  painting  by  Peter  Pdbam 


EARLIER  MINISTRY 


<» 


Uil 


Spencer  Phipps,  Esq.,  our  Lieuteii*nt-Gov> 
emor,  William  Dummer,  Esq.,  formerly 
Lieutenant-Govenior  and  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  this  Province,  Benjamin  Lynde, 
Esq.,  Thomas  Hutchinson,  Esq.,  and  Adam 
Winthrop,  Esq.  His  Excellency  with  his 
children  and  family  followed  the  corpse, 
all  in  deep  mourning;  next  went  tke 
several  relatives  according  to  their  respec- 
tive degrees,  who  were  followed  by  a  great 
many  of  the  principal  gentlewomen  in 
town;  after  whom  went  the  gentlemen  of 
His  Majesty's  Council,  the  reverend  Min- 
isters of  this  and  the  neighbouring  towns, 
the  reverend  President  and  fellows  of 
Harvard  College,  a  great  number  of  officers 
both  of  the  civil  and  military  order,  with 
a  multitude  of  other  gentlemen.  His  Ex- 
cellency's coach,  drawn  by  four  horses, 
was  covered  with  black  doth  and  adorned 
with  escutcheons  of  the  coats  of  arms 
both  of  his  Excellency  and  of  his  deceased 
lady,  and  during  the  time  of  the  procession 


h  it 


60    THE  FAMOUS  BIATHER  BYLES 

the  half-minute  guns  began,  first  at  His 
Majesty's  Castle  William,  which  were 
followed  by  those  on  board  His  Majesty's 
ship  Squirrel,  and  .oany  other  ships  in 
the  harbour,  their  ci'ours  being  all  day 
raised  to  the  heig'-f  us  usual  on  such 
occasions.  ...  On  me  following  Sunday 
his  Excellency's  pew  and  the  pulpit  at 
the  South  Church  were  put  into  mourning 
and  richly  adorned  with  escutcheons,  and 
the  Reverend  Thomas  Prince  preached  a 
sermon,  which  was  printed  by  J.  Draper, 
with  the  customary  black  border  and 
death's  head."  " 

In  reading  of  this  magnificent  funeral  dis- 
play one  is  struck  with  the  liberal  use  in 
it  of  armorial  bearings,  and  since  the 
governor's  grandfather,  Andrew  Belcher 
of  Cambridge,  the  first  of  the  family  in 
New  England,  was  the  son  of  a  cloth- 
worker  in  London,  and  he  the  son  of  a 
weaver  in  Wilts,  is  compelled  to  wonder  in 
passing  where  these  Belcher  arms  were 


'^  ll 


EABLIER  MINISTRY 


61 


obtained."  But  a  matter  of  much  more 
interest  to  our  present  biography  is  the 
fact  that  soon  after  the  funeral,  Mather 
Byles  wrote  an  "Epistle  in  verse"  to  his 
Excellency  on  the  death  of  his  lady,  which 
he  piously  prefaces  in  the  following  way: 
"As  your  Excellency  has  long  honoured 
me  with  a  particular  triendship.  Gratitude 
demands  that  I  attempt  your  Service: 
and  as  you  are  now  in  mourning  under 
the  Hand  of  God. 

"In  order  to  this,  the  muse  has  once 
more  resumed  her  Lyre,  and  her  Aversion 
to  Flattery  you  will  receive  as  her  best 
Compliment.  Instead  of  copious  Pane- 
gyric upon  the  Dead  I  have  chosen  rather 
in  solemn  Language  to  admonish  the  Liv- 
ing: and  when  others  perhaps  would 
have  embraced  so  fair  an  Opportunity 
for  an  Encomium  on  your  Excellency,  I 
have  only  taken  the  Freedom  of  an  Ex- 
hortation. I  know  you  will  be  pleased 
to  observe  that  while  I  employ  the  Num- 


M  THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

bers  of  the  Poet,  I  never  forget  the  Chaimc- 
ter  of  the  Divine. 

"lam 
"May  it  please  your  Excellency 
"Your  Excellency's 
"Affectionate  Nephew  and  most 
"  humble  Servant 

"M.  Byleb." 
The  poem  is  as  follows : 

"Belcher,  once  more  permit  the  Muse  you  lov'd, 
By  honour,  and  by  sacred  Friendship  mov'd, 
Wak'd  by  your  woe,  her  numbers  to  prolong. 
And  pay  her  tribute  in  a  Funeral  song. 

"From  you,  great  Heav'n  with  undisputed  voice 
Has  snatch'd  the  partner  of  your  youthful  joys. 
Her  beauties,  ere  slow  Hectick  fires  consum'd, 
Her    eyes    shone    cheaiful,    and    her    roses 

bloom'd : 
Long  lingering  sickness  broke  the  lovely  form. 
Shock   after   shock,    and   storm   succeeding 

storm. 
Till  Death,  relentless,  3f  Iz'd  the  wasting  clay, 
Stopt  the  faint  voice,  ijxd  catch'd  the  soul 
away. 


EARLIER  MINISTRY 


69 


"No  more  in  Convene  iprightiy  ihe  appear*, 
With  nice  decorum,  and  obliging  airs : 
Ye  poor,  no  more  expecting  round  her  atand. 
Where  soft  compassion  stretch'd  her  bounteous 
hand. 

"Her  house  her  happy  skill  no  more  shall  boast 
By  all  things  plentiful,  but  nothing  lost. 
Cold  to  the  tomb  see  the  pale  corpse  convey'd. 
Wrapt  up  in  silence,  and  the  dismal  shade. 

"Ah  !  what  avail  the  sable  velvet  spread. 
And  golden  ornaments  amidst  the  dead  t 
No  beam  smile  there,  no  eye  can  there  discern 
The  vulgar  co£Sn  from  the  marble  um : 
The  costly  honours  preaching,  seem  to  say, 
'Magnificence  must  mingle  with  the  clay.' 

"Learn  here,  ye  Fair,  the  frailty  of  yotir  face, 
Ravish'd  by  death,  or  nature's  slow  decays : 
Ye  Great,  must  so  resign  your  transient  pow'r. 
Heroes  of  dust,  and  monarchs  of  an  hour ! 
So  must  each  pleasing  air,  each  gentle  fire. 
And   all   that's   soft,   and  all   that's  sweet, 
expire. 

"But  you,  O  Belcher,  mourn  the  absent  Fair, 
Feel  the  keen  pang,  and  drop  the  tender  i  ■'•ax : 


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64    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

The  God  approves  that  nature  do  her  part, 
A  panting  bosom,  and  a  bleeding  heart : 
Ye  baser  arts  of  flattery  away ! 
The  Virtuous  Muse  shall  moralize  her  lay. 

"To  you,  O  Fav'rite  Man,  the  Pow'r  supream 
Gives  wealth  and  titles  and  extent  of  fame, 
Joys  from  beneath,  and  blessings  from  above. 
Thy   Monarch's   plaudit,   and   thy  people's 
love. 

"The  same  high  Pow'r,  unbotuded  and  alone. 
Resumes  his  gifts,  and  puts  your  mourning  on. 
His  Edict  issues,  and  his  Vassal  Death, 
Requires   your   Consort's  —  or   Your   flying 
breath. 

"Still  be  your  glory  at  his  feet  to  bend. 
Kiss  thou  the  Son,  and  own  his  Sovereign 

hand. 
For  his  high  honours  all  thy  pow'rs  exert. 
The  gifts  of  Nature,  and  the  charms  of  Art : 

"So  over  Death  the  conquest  shall  be  giv'n. 
Your  Name  shall  live  on  earth,  your  Soul  in 

heav'n. 
Mean  time  my  Name  to  tiiine  ally'd  shall 

stand 


EARLIER  MINISTRY 


65 


Still  our  warm  FViendship  mutual  flames  ex- 
tend, 
The  Muse  shall  so  survive  from  age  to  age 
And  Belcher's  name  protect  his  Byles's  page." 

In  1741  Doctor  Byles  bought  a  house  of 
his  own  and  we  presume  immediately 
moved  his  family  into  it.  Within  ten 
years,  or  a  little  more,  of  her  marriage, 
Anna  Gale  had  borne  her  second  husband 
six  children,  the  eldest  of  these  a  second 
Mather,  the  youngest  but  one  receiving 
appropriately  the  name  of  Belcher.  Of 
these  six  children,  however,  only  three 
survived  their  mother,"  who  herself  died 
April  twenty-seventh,  1744.  In  the  News- 
Letler  of  May  third,  1744,  it  was  recorded : 
"Last  Thursday  night  died,  and  on  Mon- 
day last  was  decently  interr'd,  M"'  Anna 
Byles,  the  amiable  and  Vertuous  Consort 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Byles."  "  That  Doctor 
Byles  held  his  first  wife  in  proper  esteem 
and  reverence  and  that  he  genuinely  la- 
mented her  death  is  shown  by  a  sermon  he 


i  ! 


66    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

preached  soon  after  her  funeral,  in  which 
he  extolled  her  virtues  and  commemorated 
fittingly  her  calm  and  beautiful  end. 
"Never,"  he  said  feelingly,  "did  these 
eyes  see  death  vanquished  in  a  mo-e  com- 
plete manner;  nor  did  I  ever  witness  to 
so  steady  and  uninterrupted  a  peace  of 
mind  {-r  so  long  a  time  together,  upon  a 
death  I  u  before  now.  The  king  of  terrors 
lay  contemptible  at  the  feet  of  this  truly 
Christian  heroine.  Her  speeches  were 
wonderful  and  glorious.  .  .  .  She  said 
(the  most  joyful  words  to  me  that  ever  I 
heard,  before  a  room  full  of  witnesses, 
else  I  think  that  I  should  not  so  publicly 
mention  it,  though  she  had  often  spoken 
the  same  thing  to  me  alone),  'I  bless  God 
that  I  ever  saw  you:  the  doctrines  of 
grace,  in  the  comforts  of  which  I  die, 
have  been  more  clearly  explained  and 
applied  to  my  heart  under  your  preach- 
ing, and  in  your  conversation,  than  ever 
they  were  by  any  one  else.    And  I  say 


FROM  BONNERS  MAP  OP  BOSTON.   17(19,  SHOWING 
HOLLIS  ST.  CHURCH 


J 
I  k 


EARLIER  MDJISTrlY  67 

this  for  your  encouragement  in  your  min- 
istiy.'" 

Although    the    bereaved    minister    had 
young  children  to  be  cared  for,  and  his 
own  personal  comfort  to  regard,  he  waited 
a  little  over  three  years  before  marrying 
again,  then  on  the     1*   of  June,    1747, 
the   Reverend    Jo»         Sewall,    d!d.,.  of 
the  Old  South  ofliciating,  he  married  a 
second  wife,  Rebecca  Tailer,  daughter  of 
the    distinguished     Honourable    William 
Tailer,  deceased,"  a  lady  not  less  highly 
connected    than    his    first    wife,    for   her 
father,  who  was  a  gentleman  of  family 
and  fortune,  had  twice  been  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  once  act- 
ing governor,  and  had  long  lived  in  fine 
style  in  Dorchester,  where  he  had  a  hand- 
some   country    seat.    By    this    marriage 
Doctor  Byles  allied  himself  with  another 
considerable  group  of  aristocratic  families, 
for  the  Tailers  were  connected  with  the 
Brinleys,  Byfields,  Cradocks,  Dudleys,  and 


{.I 

'lii 

111 


68    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Lydes,  the  interrelationship  among  which 
pre-Revolutionary  Boston  first  families  is 
such  an  intricate  tangle  that  no  one  who 
had  not  much  genealogical  skill  could 
possibly  make  it  out.  To  the  conspicuous 
names  we  have  just  given  should  be  added 
also  the  Royalls  and  Boylstons,  for  shortly 
after  the  Tailer-Byl^s  marriage,  occurred 
that  of  Rebecca  Tailer's  brother,  Doctor 
Gillam  Tailer,  with  Elizabeth  Boylston,  and 
of  her  sister  Abigail  to  Jacob  Royall,  Esq. 
The  house  bought  by  Doctor  Byles  in 
1741,  which  was  destined  to  be  his  home 
for  the  rest  of  his  own  life  and  the  home 
of  his  unmarried  daughters,  the  Misses 
Mary  and  Catherine  Byles,  until  their 
deaths,  respectively  in  1832  and  1837, 
was  a  plain  wooden,  perhaps  gambrel- 
roofed,  house  which  stood  endwise  to  the 
street,  on  the  site  of  the  building  known 
as  the  "Children's  Mission,"  and  its  door- 
yard,  on  Tremont  Street  nearly  opposite 
the    entrance    to    Common    Street.    The 


EARLIER  MINISTRY  69 

land  on  which  the  house  stood  was  pur- 
chased  by   Peter   Harratt,   a   bricklayer, 
from  Governor  Belcher,  in  1732,  and  the 
house   was   probably   erected    soon   after 
by  the  buyer.    Before  1741  Harratt  died 
and   in  that  year  his   widow   Catherine 
sold  it  to  Doctor  Byles."    The  house  is 
described  in  an  "instructive  and  amusing" 
game  called  "Cards  of  Boston.""  printed 
in   1831   by  Miss  Eliza   Leslie   of   Phila- 
delphia, as  "a  very  ancient  frame  building 
at   the   comer   of   Nassau    and    Tremont 
streets,"  the  outside  nearly  black,  sUnd- 
ing  in  a  green  inclosure,  shaded  with  large 
trees.    Probably    in    the    veiy    year   she 
printed  the  game.  Miss  Leslie,  a  writer  of 
some  local  reputation,  sister  of  the  painter 
Charlps  Robert  Leslie,  visited  Boston,  and 
m    1842  in   Graham's  Magazine  gave  an 
entertaining  description  of  the  house  both 
without  and   within,   and   of   its   quaint 
owners,  the  then  aged  daughters  of  Doctor 
Byles.    "After  passing  the  beautiful  Com- 


70    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

mon,"  Mua  Leslie  says,  "my  companion 
pointed  out  to  me  at  what  seemed  the 
termination  of  the  long  vista  of  Tremont 
Street,  an  old  black-looking  frame  house, 
which  at  the  distance  from  whence  I  saw 
it  seemed  to  block  up  the  way  by  standing 
directly  across  it.  It  was  the  ancient 
residence  of  Mather  Byles,  and  the  present 
dwelling  of  his  aged  daughters,  one  of 
whom  was  in  her  eighty-first  and  the  other 
in  her  seventy-ninth  year.  This  part  of 
Tremont  Street,  which  is  on  the  south- 
eastern declivity  of  a  hiU,  carried  us  far 
from  all  vicinity  to  the  aristocratic  section 
of  Boston.  At  length  we  arrived  at  the 
domain  of  the  two  antique  maidens.  It 
was  surrounded  by  a  board  fence  which 
had  once  been  a  very  close  one,  but  time 
and  those  universal  depredators  'the  boys' 
had  made  numerous  cracks  and  chinks  in 
it.  The  house  (which  stood  with  the 
gable  end  to  the  street)  looked  as  if  it  had 
never  been  painted  in  its  life.    Its  expos- 


EARUEB  MINISTBi' 


71 


ure  to  the  sun  ax- 1  rain,  to  the  heats  of  a 
hundred  summers  and  the  snows  of  a 
hundred  winters,  had  darkened  its  whole 
ouUide  nearly  to  the  blackness  of  iron. 
Also,  it  had  even  in  its  best  days  been 
evidently  one  of  the  plainest  and  most 
unbeautified  structures  in  the  town  of 
Boston,  where  many  of  the  old  frame 
houses  can  boast  of  a  redolence  of  quaint 
ornament  about  the  doors  and  windows 
and  porches  and  balconies.  Still  there 
was  something  not  unpleasant  in  its  aspect, 
or  rather  its  situation.  It  stood  at  the 
upper  end  of  a  green  lot,  whose  long  thick 
grass  was  enamelled  with  field  flowers. 
It  was  shaded  with  noble  horse-chestnut 
trees  relieved  against  the  clear  blue  sky, 
and  whose  close  and  graceful  clusters  of 
long  jagged  leaves,  fanned  by  the  light 
summer  breeze,  threw  their  chequered  and 
quivering  shadows  on  the  grass  beneath 
and  on  the  mossy  roof  of  the  venerable 
mansion."    The  house.  Miss  Leslie  further 


72    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

minutely  tells  her  readers,  was  a  gambrel- 
roofed  house,  which  when  Tremont  Street 
was  extended  beyond  its  original  terminus 
had  had  a  piece  taken  off  its  southeastern 
end  or  "side." 

After  Doctor  Byles's  second  marriage 
there  soon  appeared  in  succession  in  the 
Tremont  Street  house,  three  more  children, 
whom  their  parents  named  respectively, 
Joseph,  Mary,  and  Catherine,"  the  first 
of  these  like  several  of  his  little  half 
brothers  dying  young,  the  second  and 
third,  however,  the  Misses  Mary  and 
Catherine  Byles,  living  far  beyond  the 
Revolution,  until  they  had  become  very 
old.  The  second  wife  of  Doctor  Byles, 
of  whom  we  have  very  little  knowledge, 
lived  until  July  twenty-third,  1779,  when 
she  too,  as  we  learn  from  her  daughters' 
wills,  was  buried  in  tomb  No.  2  in  the 
Granary  Burying  Ground.  That  both 
Doctor  Byles's  marriages  were  as  happy 
as  marriages  commonly  are  we  have  no 


EARLIER  MINISTRY 


78 


reason  not  to  suppose.  At  the  time  of 
the  Revolution,  when  the  Doctor  was  in 
sore  disgrace  politically  in  the  town,  a 
young  minister,  John  Eliot,  with  youthful 
censoriousness,  and  with  evident  familiarity 
with  the  town's  gossip,  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  "the  women  all  proclaimed"" 
that  the  misfortunes  that  had  come  upon 
Doctor  Byles  were  a  judgment  on  him 
from  Heaven  for  his  '  1  treatment  of  his 
wives,  but  this  gratuitous  fling  is  the  sole 
reflection  of  the  kind  we  have  ever  seen 
made  on  Mather  Byles. 


CHAPTER  V 

Pastorate  at  Holub  Street  Church 

On  the  long  active  ministry  of  Mather 
Byles  at  Hollis  Street,  which  terminated 
really  though  not  formally  when  the  occu- 
pation of  Boston  by  the  British  in  the 
Revolution  sent  the  greater  part  of  his 
parishioners  out  of  the  town,  we  have 
considerable  light.  The  facts  we  have, 
however,  are  chiefly  of  the  ordinary  details 
of  parochial  administration  and  of  sermons 
preached  year  after  year,  many  of  which, 
soon  after  preaching.  Doctor  Byles  put 
into  print.  The  Hollis  Street  congrega- 
tion was  never  an  influential  congregation 
like  the  congregations  of  the  First  Church 
or  the  Old  South,  though  from  the  start 
it  had  on  its  communion  roll  many  respect- 
able names,"  but  we  have  every  reason  to 
n 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    75 

beKeve  that  Doctor  Byles'a  mmistiy  to  his 
parishioners  was  earnest,  foithful,  sympa- 
thetic, and  kind. 

In  spite  of  his  intellectual  activity  and 
general  learning,  Mather  Byles  made  no 
original  contribution  to  New  England 
theology.  The  period  his  ministry 
covered,  indeed,  was  one  not  of  entire 
theological  inactivity  but  certainly  of 
marked  lack  of  constructive  energy  in 
theological  and  theologico-political  things. 
The  work  of  shaping  Congregationalism, 
in  which  those  stem  theocrats,  his  great- 
grandfathers John  Cotton  and  Richard 
Mather  had  borne  chief  parts,  had  long 
been  accomplished,  the  dispute  over  the 
half-way  coveubui  had  lost  much  of  its 
original  fervour,  the  political  and  religious 
indignation  which  had  been  visited  on 
Increase  Mather  on  his  return  from  Eng- 
land because  of  the  defects  of  the  Charter 
of  1691  had  subsided  like  other  similar 
indignations,  and  the  only  remarkable  stir- 


f 


76    TBE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

ring   of   the   Boston   churches   until   the 
Revolution  was  the  Great  Awakening  under 
Whitefield    in    1740-'4«.     The    period    of 
Doctor  Byles's  ministty  is  described  by 
New  England  church  historians  as  on  the 
whole  one  of  comparative  formalism  and 
general  lack  of  spiritual  enthusiasm.    Dur- 
ing the  time,  however,  religious  thought 
was  not  inactive,  religious  thought  never 
stands  entirely  still,  under  the  leadership 
of  a  series  of  strenuous  thinkers  it  was 
moving  quietly  in  two  opposite  ways.    Of 
these  two  movements   the  most  striking 
was   what   is   known   as   Hopkinsianism, 
which  affirmed  as    Calvinistic   logic   had 
never    done    before    the   absolute   sover- 
eignty of  God,  and  the  necessity  for  un- 
conditional submission,  even  to  the  point 
of  willingneas  to  be  damned  for  his  gloiy, 
of  the  human  soul  to  Him.     At  the  .pposite 
pole   from   this   tremendous   irrationalism 
was  the  moderate  assertion  of  the  validity 
of  human  reason,  of  Chauncy,  Mayhew, 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    77 


Briant,  and  others,  of  eastern  Massachu- 
setts, an  assertion  which  was  to  strengthen 
and  grow  until  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  when  Unitarianism,  fully- 
developed,  should  come  into  existence 
through  those  able  rational  leaders  Chan- 
ning  and  Wai«.  But  the  thought  of  by 
far  the  larger  number  in  the  period 
of  Byles's  life  ran  on  what  is  properly 
called  "Old  Calvinist"  lines.  The  famil- 
iar doctrines  of  man's  depravity,  inherited 
from  fallen  Adam,  redemption  through 
the  sacrificial  death  of  Christ,  and  the 
arbitrary  bestowal  by  God  of  divine  grace 
to  bring  about  repentance  in  the  elect,  — 
these  conventional  tenets  of  Calvinism 
were  tenaciously  but  conservatively  held." 
But  the  further  belief  was  held  by  the 
Old  Calvinists  that  however  fixed  by  eter- 
nal decrees  the  fate  of  men  might  be,  the 
common  means  of  grace,  prayer,  reading 
of  Scripture,  and  attendance  on  preaching, 
honestly  used  "put  men  in  a  favourable 


mm 


78    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

way  for  obtaining  the  more  special  and 
effectual  bestowments  of  divine  help  es- 
sential to  salvation,""  and   to   this   Old 
Calvinist  party  Doctor  Byles  emphatically 
belonged.    Reading  his  sermons  one  finds 
in  him  absolutely  no  traces  of  a  disposition 
towards  the  extreme  views  of  Hopkins, 
nor  does  the  least  tendency  appear  towards 
Unitarian  thought,  but  he  eveiywheie  af- 
firms  the   main   positions   of   Calvinism, 
and  with  apparently  entirely  unquestion- 
ing faith.    In  the  common  view  of  his 
day  that  from  beginning  to  end  the  Scrip- 
tures were  the  inerrant  message  of  God  he 
profoundly  shared,  but  as  in  politics  so 
in  religion  his  attitude  was  essentially  non- 
controversial,  and  his  chief  aim  in  preach- 
ing was  to  bring  what  he  conceived  to  be 
the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  with  con- 
vincing power  to  the  practical  life  of  men. 
With  a  narrower  range  of  intellectual  in- 
terests than  his  uncle  Cotton  Mather,  he 
yet  shared  unmistakably  in  the  peculiar 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    79 


mental  temperament  of  his  uncle,  but 
although  he  had  as  unwavering  confidence 
in  the  value  of  saintly  death-bed  expe- 
riences and  with  as  fervid  imagination 
revelled  in  the  unspeakable  glories  of  the 
unseen  Heaven  where  after  death  the 
chosen  saints  were  to  go,  he  yet  escaped 
the  amazing  credulity  of  Cotton  Mather 
and  showed  little  of  the  superstition  that 
characterized  that  extraordinary  man. 
For  the  most  part  the  style  of  his  sermons 
is  simple  and  direct.  Occasionally,  over- 
powered by  his  subject  he  indulges  in  the 
strained  elegance  of  fine  writing,  but  gen- 
erally his  writing,  while  not  at  all  lacking 
in  smoothness,  is  remarkably  forcefid  and 
clear.  To  these  merits  of  expression  he 
often  adds  the  power  of  a  rich  and  vivid 
imagination,  and  we  can  well  understand 
how  with  a  magnetic  presence  in  the  pulpit 
and  a  musical  voice  he  quickly  earned 
for  himself  the  reputation  of  a  brilliant 
preacher. 


!i 


80    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

As  we  review,  even  hastily,  the  sermons 
and  essays  of  Doctor  Byles,  written  during 
his   pastorate,    that   have    been   printed, 
as  indeed  his  poetry  throughout  his  life, 
we  cannot  help  regretting  that  after  his 
death   some   kind   friend   had   not  cared 
enough   for   him   to   collect   his   writings 
into  two  or  three  volumes,  for  some  of 
his  productions,  both  in  prose  and  poetry, 
are  of  lasting  interest.    In  the  next  chapter 
we  shall  speak  of  the  fine  imagination  dis- 
played in  his  noble  sermon  on  "The  Flour- 
ish  of   the   Annual   Spring,"   we   cannot 
refrab  from  giving  here  an  extract  printed 
by    Duyckinck,    in    his    "Cydoptedia    of 
American    Literature,"    from    his    essay, 
"The  MediUtion  of  Cassim,  the  Son  of 
Ahmed."  first  printed  in  the  New  England 
Weekly  Journal  some  time  in  1727,  and 
afterward  reprinted  in  1771  with  the  second 
edition   of  his   sermon  on   "The  Present 
Vileness    of    the    Body    and    Its    Future 
Glorious  Change  by  Christ,"  from  Acts 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    81 

17:18.  Speaking  of  the  worm  changing 
into  a  butterfly  Byles  says:  "You  have 
beheld  the  dead  Silk-worm  revive  a  Butter- 
fly, the  most  beautiful  and  curious  of  all 
the  splendid  Race  of  Insects.  What  more 
entertaining  Specimen  of  the  Resurrection 
is  there,  in  the  whole  Circumference  of 
Nature?  Here  are  all  the  wonders  of 
the  Day  in  Miniature.  It  was  once  a 
despicable  Worm,  it  is  raised  a  kind  of 
painted  little  Bird.  Formerly  it  crawled 
along  with  a  slow  and  leisurely  Motion: 
now  it  flutters  aloft  upon  its  guilded  Wings. 
How  much  improved  is  its  speckled  Cover- 
ing, when  all  the  Gaudiness  of  Colour  is 
scattered  about  its  Plumage.  It  is  spangled 
with  Gold  and  Silver,  and  has  every  Gem 
of  the  Orient  sparkling  among  its  Feathers. 
Here  a  brilliant  spot,  like  a  clear  Diamond, 
twinkles  with  an  unsullied  Flame,  and 
trembles  with  num'rous  Lights,  that  glitter 
in  a  gay  Confusion.  There  a  Saphire 
casts  a  milder  Gleam,  and  shows  like  the 


89    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

blue  Expanae  of  Heaven  in  a  fair  Winter 
Evening.    In  thia  Place  an  Emerald,  like 
the  calm  Ocean.  diq>laya  its  cheerful  and 
vivid   Green.    And  cloae   by  a  Ruby  — 
flames   with   the   ripened   Blush   of   the 
Morning.    The    Breast    and    Legs,    like 
Ebony,  shine  with  a  glorious  Darkness; 
while  its  expanded  Wings  are  edged  with 
the  golden   Magnificence  of  the   Topaz. 
Tlius  the  illustrious  little  creature  is  fur- 
nished with  the  divinest  Art.  and  looks 
like  an  animated  ComposiUon  of  Jewels, 
that  bier  ',  their  promiscuous  Beams  about 
him.    lius  O  Ctunm.  shall  the  Bodies  of 
Good   Men   be  raised;    thus   shall   they 
shine,  and  thus  fly  away." 

That  the  "Great  Awakening"  of  1740- 
'42  influenced  very  deeply  the  HoUis  Street 
Church  or  its  pastor  we  have  no  reason  to 
think,  for  the  records  of  the  Church  during 
that  time  do  not  show  any  very  remarkable 
increase  in  the  number  of  admissions  to 
communion.**    When  Whitefield  first  ap- 


HOLUS  STREET  PASTORATE    88 

peared  in  BoBton  in  the  middle  of  Sep- 
tember, 1740,  he  wu  rer  ived  generally 
among  Congi^egationaliats,  and  no  doubt 
by  Doctor  Byles  as  by  other  ministers, 
with  great  warmth  and  was  heartily  wel- 
corned  to  the  churches.  On  the  26*^  of 
the  month  he  preached  from  a  sca£Fold 
erected  outside  the  HoUis  Street  meeting- 
house, no  doubt  to  accommodate  a  larger 
audience  than  could  find  room  within  the 
building.  From  a  discussion  in  1743  of 
the  effects  of  the  revival  in  which  several 
ministers  took  an  earnest  part,  some  ap- 
proving, others  deprecating.  Doctor  Byles 
and  his  cousin  Samuel  Mather,  with  two 
other  ministers,  M^  Welsteed  and  M^ 
Gray,  stood  entirely  aloof.  In  the  councils 
of  the  denomination  to  which  he  belonged, 
called  for  the  installation  or  dismissal  of 
ministers  or  for  other  reasons,  the  Hollis 
Street  Church  and  its  pastor  are  frequently 
mentioned,  as  on  the  18*^  of  May,  1768, 
when  the  Rev.  John  Lathrop  was  ordained 


84    THE  FAMOUS  BiATHER  BYLES 

pMtor  of  the  Second  Church.    On  that 
occaaion  the  young  pastor  hinuelf  preached 
the    ordination    lennon,    Doctor    Joseph 
Sewall  offered  prayer.  Rev.  Ebeneser  Pem- 
berton  gave  the  charge,  and  Doctor  Byles 
gave   the   rig  t   hand   of  fellowship.    In 
March.  1740,  Doctor   Byles   offered    the 
prayer  at  a  Town  Meeting,  in  the  same 
year  he  delivered  the  sermon  before  the 
Artillery  C3mpany,   and  probably  many 
times  he  preached   the   "Thursday  Lec- 
ture" in  the  First  Church,  which  had  been 
esUblished  by  his  great-grandfather  John 
Cotton,  and  which  has  continued  to  be 
preached  almost  continuously  to  the  pres- 
ent time."    That  like  his  son  Mather  Byles, 
Jr.,  and  hif  daughters,  in  spite  of  his  strong 
Toryism,  Doctor  Byles  had,  even  after  the 
Revolution,  any  desire  to  become  an  Angli- 
can we  have  seen  no  evidence.    He  was  too 
near  the  old  New  England  Puritan  the- 
ocracy, and  the  influ..jce  of  the  Mather 
dynasty  was  probably  too  strong  upon  his 


HOLUS  STREET  PASTORATE    M 

mind  to  admit  of  hi*  hmving  much  sympathy 
with  Anglican  ecclesiasticism,  however  much 
he  may  have  sympathised  with  Anglicans 
socially,  in  Old  England  or  New. 

In  17M,  Doctor  Byles  received  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the 
University  of  Aberdeen,  another  Boston 
minister,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Mayhew  of 
the  West  Church,  also  having  received  a 
similar  honour  from  this  university  fifteen 
years  before."  Shortly  after  the  news  of 
the  conferring  of  his  degree  reached  him, 
he  wrote  the  Rev.  Doctor  John  Chalrters, 
"Principal  of  King's  College  And  Uni- 
versity," in  which  he  acknowledges  the 
honour  that  had  been  done  him,  and  says 
that  he  had  been  trying  to  collect  his  pub- 
lished writings  to  send  to  the  university 
library.  This  letter,  which  we  have  per- 
mission to  print,  is  found  in  an  old  letter- 
book  of  Doctor  Byles's,  owned  by  the 
New  England  Historic  Genealogical  So- 
ciety.   It  reads  as  follows : 


86    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"To  the  Rev^  Doctor  John  Chabners  Prin- 
cipal of  the  King's  College  and  University  at 
Aberdeen. 

"Rev'd  Sm, 

"The  honour  which  the  University  of  Aber- 
deen has  done  me,  and  your  good  offices  in 
particular,  call  for  my  Respectful  Acknowledge- 
ments.   I    have   endeavour'd    to   collect    the 
Publications  I  have  made,  to  send  as  a  small 
Tribute  to  the  Publick  Library:    but  I  have 
been  able  to  procure  but  few,  the  rest,  though 
some  of  them  have  past  several  Editions,  being 
wholly  out  of  Print.    I  hope  they  will  have  a 
Uttle  more  to  recommend  them,  than  as  Trifling 
curiosities  from  a  Far  Country.    Wishing  you, 
and  the  Illustrious  University,  every  Favour  of 
Heaven,  and  asking  your  Prayers  and  Blessings, 
"lam 
"yova  dutiful  Son, 
"and  most  obliged 
"humble  Servant." 

Doctor  Byles's  aristocratic  tendencies, 
and  the  important  social  position  he  him- 
self held  in  Boston,  as  we  have  previously 
said,    were    of   themselves    calculated    to 


\mi 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    87 

arouse  antagonism  against  him  in  the 
minds  of  his  more  democratic  brother 
ministers  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  the 
feeling  of  many  of  the  faithful  laity  as 
well.  In  the  autumn  of  1741,  Rev.  Eleazer 
Wheelock,  one  of  the  fotmders  of  Dart- 
mouth College,  visited  Boston,  and  under 
date  of  October  9**,  evidently  with  enor^ 
mous  self-satisfaction,  writes  in  his  diary: 
"Preached  [in  the  Old  South  Church]  to 
a  very  thronged  assembly,  many  more 
than  could  get  into  the  house,  with  very 
great  freedom  and  enlargement.  I  be- 
lieve the  childrpn  of  God  were  very  much 
refreshed.  They  told  me  afterwards  they 
believed  that  Mather  Byles  was  never  so 
lashed  in  his  life."  Precisely  why  the 
"children  of  God"  of  the  Old  South  Church 
should  have  been  so  delighted  to  see 
Byles  "lashed,"  or  Doctor  Eleazer  Wheel- 
ock to  have  "lashed"  him,  particularly 
at  this  early  period  of  Byles's  ministry, 
so  long  before  his  political  opinions  had 


'-I 


88    THE  FAMOUS  MOTHER  BYLES 

become  o£Fensive,  it  is  not  easy  now  to  tell, 
but  that  censorious  younger  ministers  like 
John  Eliot  and  Jeremy  Belknap  should 
habitually  have  sneered  at  and  ridiculed 
him,  as  they  did,  argues  chiefly  the  strength 
of  his  personality,  the  variety  of  his  gifts, 
and  the  supnvior  position  in  the  commu- 
nity he  held.  That  he  was  unpopular 
among  certain  classes  of  laymen  in  Boston 
may  be  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  he 
did  not  strictly  bind  his  conduct  by  all 
the  conventions  that  had  been  established 
for  men  of  his  profession,  and  that  he 
never  hesitated  to  give  voice  to  his  opin- 
ions, whether  they  agreed  with  those  of 
the  majority  or  not. 

After  the  dissolution  of  his  pastorate 
of  the  Hollis  Street  Church  Doctor  Byles 
probably  saw  very  little  of  his  former 
Congregational  friends  of  the  clergy  or 
the  laity.  Many  of  his  most  intimate 
associates  had  been  among  the  Royalists, 
and  these  had  all  been  compelled  to  leave 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    89 


the  town.  The  worthy  people  who  now 
filled  public  positions  and  constituted  the 
town's  society  for  the  most  part  despised 
and  shunned  him,  and  he  in  return  came 
near  to  despising  them,  and  he  almost 
certainly  kc  '"t  pretty  closely  to  the  society 
of  his  daughters  and  a  very  few  other 
persons  who,  whether  sharing  his  political 
sympathies  or  not,  still  remained  loyally 
his  friends.  Had  he  been  a  younger  man 
he  would  without  doubt  have  been  driven 
into  exile  with  his  son  and  the  rest  of 
the  Tories,  but  he  was  too  old  voluntarily 
to  remove  from  Boston,  and  the  house 
in  Tremont  Street  where  he  lived,  with 
its  contents,  was  almost  all  }'.c  owned 
in  the  world.  If  he  now  regularly  at- 
tended any  religious  service  it  was  prob- 
ably the  service  of  the  Anglican  Triniiy 
Church,  into  full  communion  with  which 
his  daughters  either  before  or  shortly 
after  the  Revolution  entered.  One  inti- 
mate friend,  however,  in  these  years  he 


80    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

had  among  the  younger  Congregational 
ministers  of  Massachusetts,  the  Rev.  Na- 
thaniel Emmons  of  Wrentham,  whom  Doc- 
tor Leonard  Woods  credited  with  having 
"one  of  the  grandest  understandings  ever 
created."  Doctor  Emmons  was  thirty- 
eight  years  younger  than  Doctor  Byles, 
but  from  about  1770  to  the  death  of  the 
latter  in  1788  the  two  were  deeply  at- 
tached friends.  "The  parson  was  one  of 
my  best  friends,"  Doctor  Emmons  is 
quoted  as  saying  on  one  occasion,  "and  I 
don't  know  but  I  owe  more  to  him  than 
to  any  other  man  I  ever  knew ;  for  it  was 
he  who  taught  me  never  to  preach  what 
I  did  not  fully  believe,  and  that  it  is  no 
certain  mark  of  godliness  to  wear  a  sad 
coimtenance.  In  fact  he  once  told  me 
that  the  genuine  Christian  denied  his 
profession  if  he  was  not  continually  jolly, 
for  his  'calling  and  election'  being  sure 
he  had  no  occasion  to  feel  any  anxiety 
on     any     subject     whatever."    "Doctor 


HOLLIS  STREET  PASTORATE    91 

Byles  was  one  of  the  best  and  purest  men 
that  ever  lived."  " 

That  Doctor  Byles  was  especially  in- 
terested in  natural  science,  and  antiquarian 
research,  and  gave  a  good  deal  of  attention 
to  these  studies,  nolices  of  bis  collection 
of  curiosities,  and  incidental  references  in 
bis  sermons,  and  articles  enumerated  in  the 
inventory  of  his  effects  made  after  his 
death,  sufiBciently' show.  Among  these  ef- 
fects were  geographical  maps,  many  per- 
spective glasses,  microscopes,  mathematical 
instruments,  globes,  a  microscope  pyramid, 
solar  pyramid,  universal  pyramid,  an  opaque 
pyramid,;a  magic  lantbom  and  apparatus,  a 
prism,  camera  obscura,  pyramidical  camera, 
"tuTcle"  shell  burning  glass,  thermom- 
eters and  a  barometer,  half-hour  glasses, 
reflecting  telescopes,  silver  coins,  and  val- 
uable prints.  According  to  the  inventory, 
his  library  numbered  in  all  2,806  books, 
valued  at  a  hundred  and  forty-two  pounds, 
twelve  shillings,  and  tenpence. 


fffffrff"^ 


CHAPTER  VI 
Doctor  Btles  as  a  Poet 

Doctor  Btles's  prose  writing,  as  we 
have  said,  is  almost  without  exception  of 
a  high  order,  and  it  would  be  interesting, 
if  we  could,  to  give  wider  extracts  from  it 
here  than  our  space  will  allow.  His  poetry 
varies  much  in  excellence,  but  a  few  of 
his  poems  have  an  exaltation  of  spirit 
and  a  beauty  of  form  that  make  them  well 
worthy  to  be  remembered.  In  1736,  Byles 
published  a  small  IS"""-  volume  of  verse, 
of  a  hundred  and  eighteen  pages,  yrhich 
bore  the  modest  title,  "Poems  on  Several 
Occasions,  by  Mr  Byles."  In  the  pref- 
ace to  this  volume  the  author  explains 
to  us  that  the  poems  "had  for  the  most 
part  been  written  as  the  amusements  of 
looser  hours,   while   the  author  belonged 


*'-■; 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET    93 


to  the  college  and  was  unbending  his  mind 
from  severer  studies  in  the  entertainment 
of  the  classics."  Most  of  them,  it  con- 
tinues, had  been  several  times  printed  in 
Boston,  in  London,  and  elsewhere,  either 
separately  or  in  miscellanies,  and  were 
now  drawn  together  in  print  for  the  first 
time.  In  printing  them,  the  author  says, 
"he  gives  up  at  once  these  lighter  pro- 
ductions and  bids  adieu  to  the  airy  Muse." 
The  volume  presents  us  with  a  considerable 
variety  of  verse,  a  number  of  hymns, 
verses  written  in  a  copy  of  Milton's 
"Paradise  Lost,"  a  poem  to  the  memory 
of  a  ji'oung  commander  slain  in  battle 
with  the  Indians  in  1724,  a  poem  to  an 
ingenious  young  gentleman  on  his  dedicat- 
ing a  poem  to  the  author,  a  poem  to 
Fictorio  on  the  sight  of  his  pictures,  and 
verses  addressed  to  Doctor  Isaac  Watts 
and  others. 

Two  years  after  Byles  left  college,   in 
August,  1727,  news  reached  Boston  that 


04    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

King  George  the  First  had  died  in  June 
at  Osnaburg,  in  Westphalia,  and  that 
George  the  Second  had  ascended  the 
throne,  and  Byles  wrote  a  poem  on  the 
double  event  surcharged  with  panegyric. 
Of  the  dead  king  he  writes : 

"He  dies  I  let  nature  own  the  direful  blow. 
Sigh  all  ye  winds,  with  tears  ye  rivers  flow, 
Let  the  wide  ocean  loud  in  anguish  roar. 
And  tides  of  grief  pour  plenteous  on  the  shore ; 
No  more  the  spring  shall  bloom,  or  morning 

rise. 
But  night  eternal  wrap  the  sable  skies." 

But,  the  king  is  dead,  long  live  the  king! 
and  the  laureate  proceeds : 

"Enough,  my  muse,  give  all  thy  tears  away. 
Break  ye  dull  shades,  and  rise  the  rosey  day. 
Quicken,  O  Sun,  thy  Chariot  dazzling-bright. 
And  o'er  thy  flaming  empire  pour  the  light, 
O  Spring,  along  thy  laughing  lawns  be  seen 
Fields  alway  fresh,  and  groves  forever  green. 
Let  Britain's  sorrows  cease,  her  joys  inlarge, 
The  first  revives  within  the  second  George." 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET    M 

On  the  IS**  of  July,  1788,  Governor 
William  Burnet  arrived  at  Boston,  in 
great  state,  from  New  York,  to  assume  the 
government  of  Massachusetts.  "He  was 
welcomed  with  more  of  pomp  and  parade," 
says  Doctor  George  Ellis,  "than  had  ever 
been  observed  in  Boston  on  any  previous  oc- 
casion, and  at  an  expense  to  the  treasury  of 
eleven  hundred  pounds.  There  was  a  caval- 
otde,  lavish  festivity,  and  a  poetical  rhap- 
sody anticipating  the  'soaring  eagle'  style, 
by  the  famous  Mather  Byles."  This  poem 
was  published  in  the  New  England  Weekly 
Journal,  but  later  Byles  must  have  written 
another,  for  we  have  one  not  published  in 
this  newspafter  which  begins  as  follows : 


"Welcome  great  man  to  our  desiring  eyes ; 
Thou  earth  proclaim  it  and  resound  ye  skies  I 
Voice  answering  Voice,  in  joj-ful  Concert  meet. 
The  Hills  all  echo,  and  the  Rocks  repeat ; 
And  Thou,  O  Boston,  Mistress  of  the  Towns, 
Whom  the  pleased  Bay  with  am'rous  Arms 
surrounds. 


99    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"Let  thy  warm  Trantporta  blace  in  num'roua 
Pire», 
And  beaming  Glories  glitter  on  thy  Spiiea; 
Let  Rocketo,  streaming,  up  the  Ether  glare, 
And  flaming  Serpents  hiss  along  the  Air. 
While  rising  shouts  a  gen'ral  Joy  proclaim. 
And  ev'ry  tongue,  O  Burnet,  lisps  thy  Name." 

In  1729  (May  19),  Byles  first  published, 
in  the  New  England  Weekly  Jmtmal,  a 
noted  poem  of  his  that  eventually  bore 
the  elaborate  title,  "The  Conflagration, 
applied  to  that  Grand  Period  or  Catas- 
trophe of  our  World,  when  the  face  of 
Nature  is  to  be  changed  by  a  Deluge  of 
Fire  as  formerly  it  was  by  that  of  Water. 
The  God  of  Tempest  and  Earthquake." 
In  a  note  introducing  it  in  the  Journal, 
it  is  said  that  the  author  wrote  the  poem 
when  he  was  only  in  his  fifteenth  year. 
If  this  is  true,  Byles's  poetical  gemus  in- 
deed flowered  early,  for  the  poem  is  a 
strong  one,  showing  traces  of  the  influence 
of  Milton  perhaps,  but  indicating  a  native 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET    97 

power  of  imagination  and  lenie  of  dis- 
crimination in  the  use  of  words  that  would 
stamp  any  youth  as  giving  great  promise 
in  the  field  of  poetical  composition.  Some 
of  the  lines  are  as  follows: 

"But  O I  what  sounds  ate  able  to  convey 
The  wild  confusions  of  the  dreadful  day ! 
Eternal  mountains  totter  on  their  base, 
And   strong   convulsions   work   the   valley's 

face; 
Fierce  hurricanes  on  sounding  pinions  soar, 
Rush  o'er  the  land,  on  the  toss'd  billows  roar. 
And  dreadful  in  resistless  eddies  driven. 
Shake  all  the  crystal  battlements  of  heaven. 
See  the  wild  winds,  big  blustering  in  the  air. 
Drive  through  the  forests,  down  the  mountains 

tear. 
Sweep  o'er  the  valleys  in  their  rapid  course. 
And  nature  bends  beneath  the  impetuous  force. 
Storms  rush  at  storms,  at  tempests  tempests 

roar. 
Dash  waves  on  waves,  and  thunder  to  the 

shore. 
Columns  of  smoke  on  heavy  wings  ascend. 
And  dancing  sparkles  fly  before  the  wind. 


»8  THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Devouring  Amum,  wide-waving,  row  aloud, 
And  melted  mountaina  flow  a  fiery  flood : 
Then,  all  at  once,  immenie  the  flrei  ariie, 
A  bright  deitrucUon  wrapi  the  cruckling  skiei ; 
While  all  the  elementi  to  melt  coMpire, 
And  the  world  blazes  in  the  final  fire." 

In  178*  Governor  Belcher's  brother-in- 
law,  Hon.  Daniel  Oliver,  died,  and  Doctor 
Byles  addressed  to  His  Excellency  an 
elegiac  poem  on  the  melancholy  event. 
On  the  e*^  of  October,  1736,  as  we  have 
already  shown,  he  indited  a  laudatory 
epistle  in  verse  to  the  govemoi  .-n  the 
death  of  M"?  Belcher,  and  in  1737,  when 
Queen  Caroline  departed  this  life,  he  agam 
addressed  his  patron  in  a  poem. 

In  1744  appeared  a  "Collection  of  Poems 
by  Several  Hands,"  vhich  was  evidently, 
as  Moses  Coit  Tyler  says,  the  offspring 
of  an  amiable  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  a 
group  of  literary  friends  of  Doctor  Byles, 
among  them  Rev.  John  Adams,  to  accom- 
plish, and  with  Byles's  own  entire  ap- 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET    09 

probation,  the  apotheosis  of  the  HoUia 
Street  parson,  and  to  induce  the  public 
to  believe  that  one  of  Boston's  most  gifted 
preachers  was  likewise  a  great  poet.  One 
of  these  adulatory  poems  addresses  Byles 
in  the  following  style : 

"Hail  charming  poet,  whone  distinguished  lays 
Excite  our  wonder  and  lurmount  our  praise, 
Whom  all  the  muses  with  fresh  ardour  fire. 
And  Aganippe's  chrystal  streams  inspire." 

Another  describes  Byles  as  "Harvard's 
honour  and  New  England's  hope,"  declares 
that  he 

"Bids  fair  to  rise  and  sing  and  rival  Pope." 

and  informs  the  world  that 

"Could  Janus  live  again,  he'd  wish  to  die. 
If  in  oblivion  Byles  would  let  him  ly." 

Still  another  sings : 

"Long  has  New  England  groan'd  beneath  the 
Load 
Of  too  too  just  Reproaches  from  Abroad, 


100    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Unleam'd  in  Arts,  and  barren  in  their  Skill 
How  to  employ  the  tender  Muses  Quill : 
At  length  our  Byles  aloft  transfers  his  name, 
And  binds  it  on  the  radient  wings  of  fame ; 
All  we  could  wish  the  Youth  he  now  appears, 
A  finish'd  Poet  in  his  blooming  years. 
With  anxious  care  we  see  the  Stripling  climb 
Those  Heights  we  deem'd  for  mortals  too 

sublime. 
And  dread  a  dang'rous  Fall  .  .  . 
Yet  fondly  gaze,  till  he,  above  our  fears 
Has   lost   th'   attracting   world   and   shines 

among  the  stars." 

Whatever  admirer  wrote  this  last  poem 
printed  it  first  anonymously  in  the  New 
England  Weekly  Journal  of  August  5,  1728. 

In  this  collection  of  slightly  twenty 
poems,  which  for  the  most  part  are  "little 
more  than  weak  reverberations  of  Pope," 
several  are  by  Doctor  Byles  himself.  One 
of  these  is  "The  Comet,"  a  poem  having 
little  except  smoothness  to  recommend  it, 
and  another  a  long  poem  with  even  less 
merit,  describing  a  Harvard  Commence- 


DOCTOR   eYLES  AS  A  POET    101 

ment.    ju    this    den.-ription,    as   usual    in 
Pope's  n.-oa5  -rr,    the  writer  shows  us  the 
Boston  folk  crowdmg  down  to  the  Charles 
River  feny,  the  procession  forming  in  the 
Yard,  the  dignified  president,  the  senate, 
the  black-coated  undergraduates,  and  the 
public,  all  in  line,  the  exercises  within  the 
chapel,  and  then  as  the  crowning  event  of 
the  day,  the  grand  Commencement  Dinner. 
When  Doctor  Byles  graduated  from  col- 
lege, Alexander  Pope  was  in  the  full  flush 
of  his  fame  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
having  here,  as  is  well  known,  many  of 
his  most  ardent  devotees.    On  the  7th  of 
October,  1727,  Byles  ventured  to  address 
the  great  man,  and  his  letter,  the  original 
draft  of  which  he  preserved,   shows   the 
supreme  reverence  in  which  he  held  him 
and  his  art.     "Sir,"  he  writes,  "you  are 
doubtless  wondering  at  the  novelty  of  an 
epistle  from  the  remote  shores  where  this 
dates  its  origin ;  as  well  as  from  so  obscure 
a  hand  as  that  which  subscribes  it.    But 


102    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

what  corner  of  the  earth  so  secret  as  not 
to  have  heard  the  name  of  Mr.  Pope? 
or  who  so  retired  as  not  to  be  acquainted 
with  his  admirable  compositions,  or  so 
stupid  as  not  to  be  ravished  with  them.  .  .  . 
How  often  have  I  been  soothed  and 
charmed  with  the  ever  blooming  landscape 
of  your  Windsor  Forest  I  And  how  does 
my  very  Soul  melt  away  at  the  soft  com- 
plaints of  the  languishing  Eloisal  How 
frequently  has  the  Rape  of  the  Loch  com- 
manded the  various  passions  of  my  mind, 
provoked  laughter,  breathed  a  tranquillity, 
or  inspired  a  transport !  And  how  have 
I  been  raised  and  borne  away  by  the 
resistless  fire  of  the  Iliad,  as  it  glows  in 
your  immortal  translation."  At  the  close, 
he  begs  to  be  permitted  to  conclude  his 
letter  by  "asking  the  favour  of  a  few  lines 
from  the  land  which  has  blessed  the  world 
with  such  divine  productions."  "If  you 
thus  honour  me,"  he  writes,  "assure  your- 
self the  joys  you  will  produce  in  me  will 


'i  ! 


ALEXANDER  POPE 
From  an  engnving  by  Houbnken 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET  lOS 

be  inferior  to  none  but  that  Poetick  Rap- 
ture of  your  own  Breast.  Perhaps  you 
will  be  disposed  to  smile  when  I  confess 
that  I  have  a  more  superstitious  ardour 
to  see  a  word  written  by  your  Pen  than 
ever  Tom  Folio  in  the  Tatler  to  see  a  simile 
of  Virgil."  "Sir."  he  subscribes  his  epistle. 
Your  great  Admirer  and  most  <  bedient 
Humble  Servant.  Mather  Byles." 

On  the  3^  of  May.  1728.  he  indites  a 
letter  to  the  great  hymn  writer.  Doctor 
Isaac  Watts,   which  is  only  a  little  less 
adonng  than  his  letter  to  Pope.     "Rever- 
end  and   most  admired   Sir."  he   begins, 
"almost  ever  since  I  was  first  charmed 
well  with  your  Lyrick  poems  I  have  had 
no  little  ambition  to  be  known  to  you.     I 
have  often  wished  to  do  myself  the  honour 
of  addressing  you  with  a  letter.    But  the 
fear  which  naturally  seizes  us   when  we 
approach  great  men  has  often  prevented 
me."    "New  England."  he  later  modesUy 
says,  "has  had  no  great  reputation  of  pro- 


ii 


I'^ii 


104    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

ducing  many  fine  poets,  nor  have  we  been 
very  famous  for  our  skill  in  the  arts  of 
the  muses.  However,  so  it  happens  that 
we  love  to  be  dabbling  in  the  streams  of 
Parnassus,  though  the  product  is  nothing 
but  muddy  water." 

In  incidental  notices  of  Doctor  Byles 
in  Boston  print  a  good  deal  has  been 
made  of  Byles's  correspondence  with  these 
two  noted  English  poets,  and  with  a  third 
English  writer  who  more  f>T  less  success- 
fully cultivated  the  muses,  George  Gran- 
ville or  Grenville,  Lord  Lansdowne,  who 
lived  between  1667  and  1735."  With  Pope, 
Byles's  correspondence  was  extremely  for- 
mal and  rare,  the  little  man  of  Twicken- 
ham, although  he  sent  Byles  (without 
any  word  whatever)  a  bondsomely  bound 
copy  of  his  Odyssey  when  it  appeared, 
apparently  never  warming  very  much  to 
his  transatlantic  admirer."  With  Doctor 
Watts,  an  Independent  minister  and  a 
Calvinist,  Byles  had  the  bond  of  theological 


m: 


Dr.  ISAAC  WATTS 
From  an  engraving  by  Trotter 


m 


ii! 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET  105 

and  ecclesia-ical  as  well  as  poetical  sym- 
pathy,  and  naturally  his  correspondence 
with  the  noted  nonconformist  divine  was 
of  a  much  more  familiar  and  friendly  sort. 
Of  the  extent  of  this  correspondence  we 
are  not  sure,  but  we  know  that  Doctor 
Watts  sent  Byles  copies  of  some  of  his 
hynms  when  they  appeared,  and  that 
Byles  in  return  sent  some  of  his  poems  to 
the  English  divine.  Byles's  correspondence 
with  Lansdowne  probably  extended  only 
to  one  letter  from  the  New  England  poet 
to  the  noble  lord. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  honour  Byles  ever 
received  in  his  lifetime  gratified  him  so 
much  as  the  reception  of  Pope's  Odyssey. 
In  lending  it  once  to  a  lady  he  accom- 
panied it  with  these  gallant  lines  of  his  own : 

"Go,  my  dear  Pope,  transport  the  attentive 
fair. 
And  soothe  with  winning  harmony  her  ear 
"Twill  add  new  graces  to  thy  heav'nly  song 
To  be  repeated  by  her  gentle  tongue. 


li 


lOd    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


111 


i 


Old  Homer's  ibsde  tball  smile  if  she  com- 
mend. 
And  Pope  be  proud  to  write  as  Byles  to  lend." 

That  Doctor  Byles  had  given  consider- 
able attention  to  the  art  of  poetry  we  have 
strong  testimony  in  a  sermon  he  preached 
at  the  Thursday  Lecture,  May  third,  17S9, 
on  "The  Flourish  of  the  Annual  Spring." 
This  sermon,  which  shows  probably  a 
finer  imagination  than  any  other  he  printed, 
i.'-.  f:om  Canticles  2  :  10-13,  "Rise  up  and 
come  away,  lo  the  winter  is  past,  the  rain 
is  over  and  gone;  the  flowers  appear  on 
the  earth,  the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds 
is  come.  .  .  .  Arise  .  .  .  and  come  away." 
"Of  all  mere  men  who  have  lived  since  the 
fall  of  Adam,"  the  sermon  begins,  "the 
author  of  this  beautiful  passage  is  pro- 
nounced the  wisest  by  the  God  of  Heaven. 
And  of  all  the  books  he  wrote  this  is  the 
most  elegant,  sublime,  and  devout.  The 
title  of  the  book  is  the  Song  of  Songs  and 
it  well  deserves  the  name,  for  it  is  the 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET  107 

finest  poetical  composure  now  extant  in 
the    world.    It    is   not   everywhere    over 
nice  and  exact  in  its  meUphors  and  al- 
lusions,   but    they    are    bold    and    grand, 
elevated  and  lofty,  all  fire,  all  consecrated 
rapture  and  inspiration  !    The  criticks  of 
the  Art  of  Poetry  will  presently  see  that 
it  is  a  dramatic  composition  of  that  kind 
to   which   the   modems    would   give   the 
name  of  a  Pastoral  Opera.     That  it  is  a 
dramatic  performance  is  easily  discovered, 
inasmuch  as  it  consists  wholly  of  action, 
dialogue,  and  character.     It  is  a  personal 
representation     of    passion     and     action, 
dialogue  and  history,  all  of  which  are  the 
exact    description    of    the    drama.    It    is 
an  opera,  it  seems  to  consist  of  three  acts. 
The  numbers  are  of  the  lyriek  kind,  and 
it   has   in   it   the   evident   intimations   of 
musick  and  a  chorus.    And  it  is  a  pas- 
toral, as  the  scenes  are  mostly  laid  in  the 
country,  and  the  characters  and  images  are 
principally  rural.    But  more  than  .this,  'tis  a 


108    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Divine  Poem.  It  contaLis  a  fine  picture  of 
the  loves  of  Christ  and  his  Church."  Soon 
the  writer  lets  his  fancy  loose  among  the 
lovely  sights  and  sounds  and  odors  of  the 
spring :  "The  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is 
come,  and  our  ears  are  regaled  by  all  the 
harmony  of  the  groves  and  forests.  The 
idle  musicians  of  the  spring  fill  the  fields 
and  the  skies  with  their  artless  melody.  A 
thousand  odours  are  thrown  from  every 
bough,  and  scat'er  thro'  the  air  to  gratify 
our  smell.  The  flowers  appear  on  the  earth, 
and  the  spring  buds  and  rising  grass  dress 
the  rich  landscape  and  paint  the  scene 
to  delight  and  charm  our  eyes.  These 
are  the  pleasures  of  an  earthly  spring." 
Bound  up  with  this  sermon  we  find  a  musical 
"Hymn  for  the  Spring,"  of  fourteen  stan- 
zas, five  of  which  are  as  follows: 

"By  tuneful  birds  of  every  plume 
Melodious  strains  are  play'd. 
From  tree  to  tree  their  accents  roam. 
Soft-warbling  thro'  the  shade. 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET  109 

"The  painted  Meads  and  fragrant  Field* 
A  sudden  smile  bestow, 
A  golden  Gleam  each  Valley  yields, 
Where  numerous  Beauties  blow. 

"A  Thousand  gaudy  Colours  flush 
Each  od'rous  Mountain's  Side: 
Lillies  rise  fair,  and  Roses  blush 
And  Tulips  spread  their  Pride. 

"  Thus  flourishes  the  wanton  Year, 
In  rich  Profusion  gay, 
Till  Autumn  bids  the  bloom  retire. 
The  Verdure  fade  away. 

"Succeeding  Cold  withers  the  Woods. 
While  heavy  Winter  reigns. 
In  Fetters  binds  the  frozen  Floods, 
And  shivers  o'er  the  Plains." 

In  a  curious  little  book  of  sacred  music, 
called  the  "New  England  Psalm-Singer 
or  American  Chorister,"  published  by  Edes 
and  Gill,  probably  in  1770,  containing 
"a  number  of  psalm-tunes,  anthems,  and 
canons,  in  four  and  five  parts,"  composed 


110    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

by  William  Billings  of  Boston,  the  book 
including  a  frontispiece  engraving  by  Paul 
Revere,  is  a  hymn  by  Doctor  Byles,  en- 
titled "New-England  Hymn  [Adapted  to 
America  Tune]."    This  hymn  is  as  follows : 

"To  Thee  the  tuneful  Anthem  soars. 
To  Thee,  our  Father's  God,  and  ours ; 
This  Wilderness  we  chose  our  Seat : 
To  Rights  secur'd  by  Equal  Laws 
From  Persecution's  Iron  Claws, 
We  here  have  sought  our  calm  Retreat. 

"See  I  how  the  Flocks  of  Jesus  rise  I 
See  I  how  the  Face  of  Paradise 

Blooms  thro'  the  ThickeU  of  the  Wild  ! 
Here  Liberty  erects  her  Throne ; 
Here  Plenty  pours  her  Treasures  down ! 

Peace  smiles,  as  Heav'nly  Cherub  mild. 

"Lord,  guard  thy  Favours ;  Lord,  extend 
Where  farther  Western  Suns  descend ; 
Nor  Southern  Seas  the  Blessings  bound ; 
'Till  Freedom  lift  her  chearful  Head, 
'Till  pure  Religion  onward  spread. 
And  beaming,  wrap  the  Globe  around." 


111 

""ill 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET  111 

That  Doctot  Byles  had  much  interest  in 
music  IS  shown  not  only  by  the  hymn  given 
above  but  by  the  following  lines  descriptive 
of  fugue  music,  which  appear  on  the  tenth 
page  of  the  "Psalm  Singer,"  and  are  there 
said  to  be  "from  a  miscellany  of  the  Rev 
D^  Byles": 

"Down  steers  the  Bass  with  grave  majestic  Air. 
And  up  the  Treble  mounte  with  shrill  Career; 
With  softer  Sounds,  in  mild  Melodious  Maze. 
Warbhng  between,  the  Ten^  gently  Plays : 
Hut  if  th  aspiring  AUus  join  its  Force. 
See  I  like  the  Lark,  it  Wings  ifa  tow'ring 
Course;  ^ 

Thro'  Harmony's  sublimest  Sphere  it  flies. 
And  to  Angelic  Accents  seems  to  rise- 
Rom  the  bold  Height  it  hails  the  echoing  Bass. 
Which  swells  to  meet,  and  mix  in  close  embrace. 
The  diff  rent  Systems  all  the  Parts  divide 
With  Music's  Chords  the  distant  Notes  are 
ty'd; 

And  Sympathetick  Strains  enchanting  winde 
Thar  restless  Race,  till  aU  the  Parts  are  join'd : 
Then  rolls  the  Rapture  thro'  the  air  around 
In  the  full  Magic  Melody  of  Sound  " 


11«    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Byles's  verses  to  Doctor  Isaac  Watts, 
in  "Poems  on  Several  Occasions,"  are  as 
follows: 

"To  the  Reverend  Doctor  Watts,  on  his  Divine 

Poems. 
"  Say,  smiling  Muse,  what  heav'nly  Strain 
Forbids  the  Waves  to  roar; 
Comes  gently  gliding  o'er  the  Main, 
And  charms  our  list'ning  Shore  I 

"What  Angel  strikes  the  tremb'ling  Strings; 
And  whence  the  golden  Sound ! 
Or  is  it  Watts  —  or  Gabriel  sings 
From  yon  celestial  Ground  t 

"'Tis  Thou,  Seraphick  Watts,  thy  Lyre 
Plays  soft  along  the  Floods ; 
Thy  Notes,  the  ans'ring  Hills  inspire. 
And  bend  the  waving  Woods. 

"The  Meads,  with  dying  Musick  fill'd 
Their  smiling  Honours  show. 
While,  whisp'ring  o'er  each  fragrant  Field, 
The  tuneful  Breezes  blow. 

"The  Rapture  sounds  in  ev'ry  Trace, 
Ev'n  the  rough  Rocks  regale, 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET    ns 

Fresh  flow'ry  Joys  flame  o'er  the  Face 
Of  ev'ry  laughing  Vale. 

"And  Thou,  my  Soul,  the  Transport  own, 
Pir'd  with  immortal  Heat ; 
While  dancing  Pulses  driving  on. 
About  thy  Body  beat. 

"Long  as  the  Sun  shall  rear  his  Head, 
And  chase  the  flying  Glooms, 
As  blushing  from  his  nuptial  Bed 
The  gallant  Bridegroom  comes : 

"Long  as  the  dusky  Ev'ning  flies 
And  sheds  a  doubtful  Light, 
While  sudden  rush  along  the  Sides 
The  sable  Shades  of  Night : 

"O  Watts,  thy  sacred  Lays  so  long 
Shall  ev'ry  Bosom  fire ; 
And  ev'ry  Muse,  and  ev'ry  Tongue 
To  speak  thy  Praise  conspire. 

"When  thy  fair  Soul  shall  on  the  Wings 
Of  shouting  Seraphs  rise, 
And  with  superior  Sweetness  sings 
Amid  thy  native  Skies ; 


114    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"Still  shaU'thy  lofty  Nuniben  flow. 
Melodious  and  divine ; 
And  Choirs  above,  and  Saints  below, 
A  deathless  Chorus  I  join. 

"To  our  far  Shores  the  Sound  shall  roll 
(So  Philomela  sung). 
And  East  to  West,  and  Pole  to  Pole 
Th'  eternal  Tune  prolong." 

In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  speak  in 
some  detail  of  a  passage-st-arms  in  wit 
that  once  took  place  between  Byles  and  a 
rival  humourist  in  Boston,  a  well-known 
man  named  Joseph  Green.  Doctor  Byles 
had  a  favourite  cat  which  he  sometimes 
jocularly  called  his  muse,  and  in  the  course 
of  events  the  cat  died.  On  its  death  Green, 
who  whether  chiefly  from  ill-will  or  solely 
from  a  love  of  practical  joking  seems  to 
have  lost  no  opportunity  of  ridiculing 
Byles,  wrote  and  published  an  elegy  on 
the  cat.    The  absurd  poem  is  as  follows : 

"Oppress'd  with  grief  in  heavy  strains  I  mourn 
The  partner  of  my  studies  from  me  torn. 


DOCTOR  BYLES  AS  A  POET  115 

HowshaUIsing  ?  what  numbers  ahall  I  chiwe  ? 
For  in  my  fav'rite  cat  I've  lost  my  muae. 
No  more  I  feel  my  mind  with  raptures  fir'd, 
I  want  those  airs  that  Puss  so  oft  inspir'd  • 
No  crowding  thoughts  my  ready  fancy  fill. 
Nor  words  run  fluent  from  my  easy  quiU ; 
Yet  shall  my  verse  deplore  her  cruel  fate. 
And  celebrate  the  virtues  of  my  ^at. 

"In  acts  obscene  she  never  took  delight  • 
No  caterwauls  disturb'd  our  sleeo  by  ijght  • 
Chaste  as  a  virgin,  free  from  every  stain. 
And  neighb'ring  cats  mew'd  for  her  love  in 
vain. 

"She  never  thirsted  for  the  chickens'  blood  • 
Her  teeth  she  used  only  to  chew  her  food ;' 
Harmless  as  satires  which  her  master  writes, 
A  foe  to  scratching,  and  unused  to  bites, 
able  m  the  study  was  my  constant  mate ; 
There  we  together  many  evenings  sat. 
Whene'er  I  felt  my  tow'ring  fancy  fail. 
I  stroked  her  head,  her  ears,  her  back,  and  tail ; 
And  as  I  stroked  improv'd  my  dying  song 
^m  the  sweet  notes  of  her  melodious  tongue : 
Her  purrs  and  mews  so  evenly  kept  time 
She  purr'd  in  metre,  and  she  mew'd  in  rhyme 


116    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

But  when  my  dulneaa  haa  too  itubborn  prov'd, 
Nor  could  by  Puss's  music  be  remov'd. 
Oft  to  the  well-known  volumes  have  I  gone. 
And  stole  a  line  from  Pope  or  Addison. 

"Of'times  when  lost  amidst  poetic  heat, 
She  leaping  on  my  knee  has  took  her  seat ; 
There  saw  the  throes  that  rock'd  my  lab'ring 

brain. 
And  lick'd  and  daw'd  me  to  myself  again. 

"Then,  friends,  indulge  my  grief  and  let  me 
mourn, 
My  cat  is  gone,  ah  I  never  to  retwn. 
Now  in  my  study,  all  the  tedious  night. 
Alone  I  sit,  and  imassisted  write ; 
Look  often  round  (O  greatest  cause  of  pain). 
And  view  the  num'rous  labours  of  my  brain ; 
Those  quires  of  words  array'd  in  pompous 

rhyme, 
WUch  braved  the  jaws  of  all-devouring  time. 
Now  imdefended  and  unwatch'd  by  cats 
Are  doom'd  a  victim  to  the  teeth  of  rats." 


CHAPTER  vn 

Doctor  Btles'b  Huhottr 

Two  ministers  who  filled  a  marked  and 
honourable  place  in  eighteenth  century 
Boston,  says  a  writer  in  the  "Memorial 
Hbtory,""  were  Thomas  Prince  of  the  Old 
South  Church,  and  Mather  Byles  of  the 
Hollis  Street  Church.  "Thomas  Prince 
shares  with  Cotton  Mather  the  repuU- 
tion  of  being  the  most  learned  man  in 
New  England  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
He  far  surpassed  all  the  Mathers  in 
the  method,  accuracy,  and  usefulness  of 
his  writings.  Mather  Byles  was  too  way- 
ward and  eccentric  a  genius  to  make  a 
very  permanent  impression,  though  he  had 
remsrkable  literary  gifts,  and  a  fancy 
which  in  his  earlier  years  knew  no  bounds. 
He  early  obtained  eminence  in  the  pulpit, 
m 


118    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

and  in  spite  of  his  litenuy  interests  and  the 
sharpness  of  his  tongue,  he  maintained 
cordial  relations  with  his  church  until 
the  Revolution  separated  them,  Doctor 
Byles  taking  the  losing  side.  The  tradi- 
tions of  his  overflowing  wit  are  now  the 
most  vivid  part  of  his  reputation,  and 
doubtless  do  less  than  justice  to  his  piety, 
ability,  and  learning."  With  such  an  es- 
timate of  Doctor  Byles  we  partly  but  not 
wholly  agree.  That  his  intellectual  gifts 
can  properly  be  called  wayward  and  ec- 
centric we  do  not  believe,  but  it  is  per- 
fectly true  that  this  brilliant  descendant 
of  Increase  Mather  is  remembered  in  Bos- 
ton chiefly  as  an  irrepressible  humourist. 
In  his  interesting  compilation  of  historical 
facts  and  personal  reminiscences  concern- 
ing ancient  Boston,  "Dealings  with  the 
Dead,"  MF  Lucius  Manlius  Sargent  says : 
"D'-  Byles  has  been  wafted  down  the 
stream  of  time,  to  distant  ages,  as  it  were, 
upp"  a  feather";    what  he  could  never 


ii 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    119 
have  accomplished  of  repuuUon  "by  his 
grave   discourses   and    elaborate   poetical 
labours,  he  certainly  and  signally  achieved 
by   his    never-to-be-forgotten    quips    and 
cnaka  and  bon  mots  and  puns  and  funny 
Myings  and  comical  doings.""    "  His  wit  " 
aays  Doctor  Nathaniel  Emmons,  "bubblJd 
up  as  naturally  as  spring  water,  and  his 
witUcisms  kept  Boston  on  a  broad  grin 
for  all  of  half  a  century.    You  heard  them 
repeated  on  the  streets  and  at  the  most 
select  dinner  parties.    They  entitled  him 
to  a  monument,  because  they  promoted 
the  public  health  by  aiding  public  diges- 
tion."    "The  first  story  I  ever  heard  of 
Mather  Byles."   says  M;  Sargent,    "was 
related  at  my  father's  table  by  the  Rev 
Dr  Belknap  in  1797.    It  was  upon  a  Satur- 
day, and  Di  John  Clarke  and  some  other 
genUemen.   among   whom  I  well  remem- 
ber  Major   General   Lincoln,    ate    their 
salt  fish  there  that  day.    I  was  a  boy, 
and  I  remember  their  mirth  when  after 


fj 

1 
t 

, 

I: 

ii 

:     i 

11 

! 

LI 

! 

\      \ 

m    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Dt  Belknap  had  told  the  itoiy  I  Mid 
to  our  minister  Dt  Clark,  near  whom  I 
was  eating  my  apple,  that  I  wished  he 
were  half  as  funny  a  minister  as  D^  Byles." 
The  reputation  for  wit  Doctor  Byles  had 
in  Boston  is  very  well  shown  by  Thomas 
Morton  Jones's  well-known  doggerel  ballad 
on  the  Boston  ministers  of  his  time  which 
was  printed  in  1774.  Describing  with 
coarse  humour  all  the  Boston  ministers, 
Chauncy,  Pemberton,  Eliot,  Cooper,  Sam- 
uel Mather,  and  the  rest,  Jones  says  of 
Doctor  Byles : 

"There's  punning  Byles  invokes  our  smiles, 
A  man  of  stately  parts ; 
He  visits  folks  to  crack  his  jokes, 
llVluch  never  mend  their  hearts. 

"With  strutting  gait,  and  wig  so  great. 
He  walks  along  the  streets, 
And  throws  out  wit,  or  what's  like  it. 
To  every  one  he  meets."  " 

From  such  notices  as  these  by  Doctor 
Byles's  contemporaries  or  the  people  who 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    181 

lived  nearer  hU  time  than  we,  and  from 
the  examples  of  the  doctor's  wit  that 
have  come  down  to  us,  we  arc  obliged  to 
admit  that  his  humour  rarely  if  ever  rises 
above  the  plane  of  puns  or  amusing  jokes 
or  sharp  repartee,  but  such  as  his  humour 
was  it  seems  to  have  kept  Boston  laugh- 
ing for  more  than  a  generation,  and  his 
scattered  puns  and  smart  sayings  that 
have  survived  to  our  time  not  one  of  us 
who  has  any  sense  of  humour  can  help 
finding  more  or  less  entertaining  still. 
)Vhile  he  lived  people  met  him  as  Greville 
says  people  always  met  Sydney  Smith, 
prepared  to  laugh  and  if  need  be  go  into 
fits  of  merriment  over  his  puns  and  quips." 
Doctor  Byles  could  be  fiercely  satirical  but 
his  satire  nad  none  of  the  sustained  dignity 
and  apparent  gravity  of  Swift's,  he  could 
set  people  laughing,  but  his  sallies  always 
came  short  of  the  droll  fun  of  that  prince 
of  social  humourists,  himself  also  a  clergy- 
man, Sydney  Smith.    Occasionally  Doctor 


182    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


Byles's  jokea  were  tinged  with  bitter  per- 
sonal feeling,  and  it  seems  more  than 
probable  that  his  impopularity  at  the 
Ilevolution  was  not  a  little  the  result  of 
cutting  jibes  in  which  he  had  indulged  at 
the  expense  of  gentlemen  who  in  the  strife 
between  England  and  the  Colonies  had 
espoused  the  American  cause.  Where 
Doctor  Byles's  keen  sense  of  humour  and 
unusual  power  of  wit  came  from  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  he  could  hardly  have 
inherited  it  from  the  serious  Mathers  or 
Cottons  from  whom  he  was  descended. 
It  was  much  more  likely  an  endowment 
from  the  Byleses,  but  of  the  peculiar 
mental  qualities  of  this  little  known  Eng- 
lish family  we  have  no  knowledge  at  all. 
It  is  said  that  on  a  certain  Sunday  morn- 
ing the  learned  Doctor  Thomas  Prince 
was  to  preach  for  Doctor  Byles,  but  at 
the  hour  of  service  had  not  arrived. 
Glancing  with  perturbed  mind,  no  doubt, 
at  the  entrance  to  the  pulpit  from  time 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    12S 


to  time,  the  doctor  began  the  service. 
But  Doctor  Prince,  who  had  possibly 
entirely  forgotten  the  appointment,  failed 
to  come,  and  Doctor  Byles  was  obliged  to 
preach  himself.  The  text  he  announced, 
it  is  said,  was  "Put  not  your  trust  in 
princes !" 

The  drawings  for  King's  Chapel  pre- 
sented  by  the  architect,  Peter  Harrison  of 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  finally  ac- 
cepted, s}  owed  two  tiers  of  windows,  the 
lower  windows  dot  much  more  than  half 
the  size  of  the  upper ;  when  Doctor  Byles 
saw  the  drawings  he  exclaimed,  referring 
to  the  lower  tier  of  windows:  "I  have 
heard  of  the  canons  of  the  Church,  but  I 
never  saw  the  port-holes  before."  ** 

In  1773,  the  Mastachusetts  Gazette  in- 
forms us,  the  town  authorities  purchased 
for  Boston  from  England  two  or  three 
hundred  street  lamps.  The  afternoon  of 
the  day  they  arrived  a  gossipy  woman 
who  had  adopted  so-called  "New  Light" 


124    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


opinions,  and  was  gifted  with  a  disagree- 
able whining  voice,  called  on  Doctor  Byles. 
Her  conversation  irritated  and  bored  the 
doctor  and  at  last  in  desperation  he  said : 
"Have  you  heard  the  news  ?"  "No,  what 
news.  Doctor  Byles?"  she  asked  eagerly. 
"Why,  Madam,"  said  the  parson,  "three 
hundred  new  lights  have  this  morning 
arrived  from  London,  and  the  selectmen 
have  wisely  ordered  them  put  in  irons." 
"You  don't  say  so !"  said  the  woman, 
whereupon  she  hurried  away  to  see  who 
else  had  heard  the  distressing  news.^ 

A  gentleman  whom  Doctor  Byles  knew 
very  kindly  sent  the  doctor  a  barrel  of 
fine  oysters.  Meeting  the  donor's  wife 
on  the  street  an  hour  or  two  after  the 
oysters  came.  Doctor  Byles  said  to  her: 
"Madam,  your  husband  has  treated  me 
this  morning  in  a  most  Billingsgate  man- 
ner!" and  so  left  her.  The  woman,  who 
was  of  a  nervous  temperament,  went  home 
in  distress,  and  when  her  husband  came 


Sill 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    1«« 


to  dinner  told  him  what  Doctor  Byles  had 
said.  The  man,  it  is  recorded,  was  so 
annoyed  at  the  doctor's  folly  that  he 
promptly  cut  his  acquaintance. 

A  poor  chap  in  agony  with  the  tooth- 
ache asked  Doctor  Byles  where  he  should 
go  to  have  his  tooth  drawn.  The  Doctor 
directed  iuia  to  a  certain  lonely  house  on 
the  southwest  side  of  Beacon  Hill,  where 
he  told  him  he  would  find  a  person  who 
would  "draw  it."  The  man  went,  and 
found,  not  a  dentist,  but  John  Singleton 
Copley,  the  painter.  "This  is  a  poor 
joke  for  Doctor  Byles,"  said  Copley.  "I 
do  not  think  my  drawing  your  tooth 
would  ease  the  pain  very  much." 

A  candidate  for  local  fame  once  an- 
nounced to  the  public  that  he  would  fly 
from  the  steeple  of  the  North  Church. 
He  had  already  mounted  the  steeple,  and 
was  clapping  his  artificial  wings  to  the 
delight  of  the  crowd  below,  when  Doctor 
Byles  happened  along.    "What  has  this 


126    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


\ik 


crowd  gathered  for?"  said  the  reverend 
wit.  "We  have  come,  sir,"  said  some  one, 
"to  see  a  man  fly."  "Poh  !  Poh !"  said 
the  doctor  moving  away,  "I  have  seen  a 
horse  fly." 

One  day  a  parishioner  called  and  foimd 
the  minister  diligently  nailing  list  on 
his  doors  to  keep  the  cold  out.  The 
parishioner  humorously  said:  "The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth.  Doctor  Byles." 
"Yes,"  answered  the  doctor  quickly,  "and 
man  listeth  wheresoever  the  wind  bloweth." 

A  certain  M'  Thomas  Hill  had  a  dis- 
tillery "at  the  comer  of  Essex  and  South 
Streets,  not  far  from  where  Doctor  Bel- 
knap's house  stood,  in  Lincoln  Street." 
One  day  Doctor  Byles  saw  Hill  in  the 
Street  and  asked  him,  probably  much  to 
the  man's  surprise:  "Do  you  still?" 
"That  is  my  business,"  said  the  distiller. 
"Then,"  said  the  doctor,  "I  wish  you 
would  come  with  me  and  still  my  wife." 
What  had  happened  to  disturb  the  serenity 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    1«7 

of  the  Byles  household,  or  whether  this 
incident  occurred  in  the  time  of  the  first 
or  the  second  M?  Byles  we  are  not 
informed. 

One  night  after  M?  Rebecca  Byles 
and  her  daughters  had  gone  to  bed  they 
were  awakened  by  the  doctor's  calling 
loudly:  "Thieves!  Thieves  1"  Hastily 
springing  from  their  beds  the  women 
rushed  to  Doctor  Byles's  study,  but  found 
the  doctor  calmly  writing  or  reading 
at  his  desk.  "Where?  Where?"  asked 
the  women  excitedly.  "There !"  said  the 
doctor,  pointing  quietly  to  the  candles. 
Another  veiy  cold  night  the  Miss  Byleses 
were  roused  from  their  comfortable  beds 
by  their  father  calling  to  them  to  get  up. 
When  they  came  to  his  study  he  said:  "I 
merely  wanted  to  know  whether  you  lay 
warm  in  bed." 

The  Byles  servant  at  one  time  was  a 
very  stupid  and  literal  Irish  girl,  probably 
not    long   from    the    Emerald    Isle.     One 


1«8    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

day  with  a  look  of  affright  and  in  ap- 
parent agitation  Doctor  Byles  said  to 
her:  "Go  upstairs  and  tell  your  mistress 
that  Doctor  Byles  has  put  an  end  to  him- 
self." The  girl  ran  hurriedly  to  M? 
Byles  and  in  a  terrified  voice  gave  the 
doctor's  message.  To  the  study  quickly 
came  M"!"  Byles  and  her  daughters.  The 
vision  that  greeted  them  was  of  the  rever- 
end gentleman  waltzing  about  the  room 
with  part  of  a  cow's  tail  he  had  somewhere 
picked  up  tied  to  his  coat  behind. 

One  morning  when  M?  Byles  was  iron- 
ing, some  women  visitors  to  the  doctor 
were  announced.  M?  Byles  did  not  wish 
to  be  seen  at  the  ironing  table  and  allowed 
herself  to  be  pushed  by  her  husband  into 
a  closet.  After  a  little  general  conversa- 
tion the  callers  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
the  doctor's  curiosities.  The  parson  took 
them  about  the  house  and  finally  came 
to  the  closet.  "My  greatest  curiosity  I 
have  kept  till  the  last,"  he  said,  then 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    1S9 

opening  the  door  he  presented  to  them 
his  greatly  embarrassed  wife. 

The  road  opposite  the  Byles  house  for 
several  seasons  was  almost  impassable  in 
wet  weather  because  of  the  deep,  soft 
mud.  Doctor  Byles  repeatedly  com- 
plained to  the  selectmen  of  the  nuisance 
and  asked  to  have  the  road  mended,  but 
without  avail.  One  day  he  looked  out 
and  saw  two  of  the  city  fathers  standing 
in  the  mud  trying  to  extricate  from  its 
depths  the  wheels  of  the  chaise  in  which 
they  had  been  driving.  Going  out  of 
his  house  Doctor  Byles  bowed  respect- 
fully to  the  selectmen  and  said:  "Gentle- 
men, I  have  frequently  represented  that 
slough  to  you  as  a  nuisance,  but  hitherto 
without  any  result,  I  am  glad  to  see  you 
stirring  in  the  matter  at  last." 

One  Fast  Day  Doctor  Byles  and  some 
brother  minister  out  of  town  were  to  ex- 
change pulpits.  On  the  appointed  morn- 
ing both  ministers  started  on  horseback, 


180    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


one  away  from  the  town,  the  other  towards 
it.  When  they  came  within  sight  of  each 
other  Doctor  Byles  spurred  his  horse  into 
a  gallop  and  passed  the  country  minister 
at  full  speed.  "Why  so  fast,  brother 
Byles?"  called  out  the  rural  parson, 
halting.  Looking  back  over  his  shoulder 
Doctor  Byles  answered :  "It's  fast  day  I" 
We  have  seen  how  close  the  friendship 
between  Doctor  Byles  and  Governor  Bel- 
cher was.  A  further  illustration  of  this 
is  to  be  found  in  a  stoiy  told  by  Doctor 
Jeremy  Belknap,  which  appears  in  a  manu- 
script in  Belknap's  handwriting,  in  the 
library  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  and  more  briefly  in  print  in  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Col- 
lections.*' The  story  shows  that  if  Doctor 
Byles  could  indulge  in  humour  at  the 
expense  of  others  and  occasionally  play 
unwelcome  practical  jokes,  in  spite  of 
gubernatorial  dignity  Governor  Belcher 
could  do  the  same.    At  some  time  during 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    181 

hia  governorship  of  Massachusetts,  M! 
Belcher  undertook  a  voyage  to  the  east- 
ward (it  is  said  to  Nova  Scotia)  to  "treat" 
with  the  Indians.  The  governor  asked 
Doctor  Byles  to  go  with  him,  but  the 
minister  felt  obliged  to  refuse.  Governor 
Belcher  wanted  his  friend's  company  and 
determined  to  have  it,  so  he  got  the  chap- 
lain at  Castle  William,  in  the  harbour,  to 
exchange  pulpits  with  Doctor  Byles  on 
the  following  Sunday,  on  the  afternoon 
of  which  day  he  had  arranged  to  start. 
The  Governor  was  going  in  the  war-ship 
Scarborough,  Captain  Durell,  and  on  Sun- 
day  morning  he  had  the  ship  anchor  near 
the  castle.  In  the  afternoon  he  invited 
Doctor  Byles  to  come  aboard  to  drink  tea, 
and  while  Byles  was  there  the  captain, 
as  directed,  weighed  anchor,  and  the  min- 
ister was  obliged  to  take  the  voyage. 
But  the  story  does  not  end  here.  When 
another  Sunday  came,  the  weather  having 
been  stormy.  Doctor  Byles  found  himself 


182    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

■till  at  lea.  Of  course  he  miut  have 
religious  service  on  board  and  he  pre- 
pared to  do  so.  Having  taken  two  ser- 
mons with  him  to  Castle  William  he  was 
well  equipped  for  preaching,  but  nobody 
on  board  had  a  hymn-book.  Accordingly, 
the  minister  himself  wrote  a  hymn,  and 
it  is  one  that  has  great  dignity,  shows  a 
fine  imagination,  and  is  indeed  quite  above 
mediocrity. 

"  Great  God  I    Thy  works  our  wonder  raise. 
To  Thee  our  swelling  notes  belong ; 
TVUle  skies  and  winds  and  roCks  and  seas 
Around  shall  echo  to  our  song. 


"Thy  power  produced  this  mighty  frame. 
Aloud  to  Thee  the  tempests  roar ; 
Or  softer  breezes  tune  Thy  name 
Gently  along  the  Shelly  shore. 

"Roimd  Thee  the  scaly  nation  roves. 
Thy  opening  hand  their  joys  bestow ; 
Through  all  the  blushing  coral  groves. 
These  silent  gay  retreats  below. 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    188 

"See  the  broad  tun  fonake  the  ikiei, 
Glow  on  the  wave*,  and  downward  ilide ; 

^tton  I    heaven  opens  oU  it*  eye*, 
And  ttarbeama  tremble  in  the  tide. 

"Each  variou*  icene,  or  day  or  night. 
Lord,  poinU  to  Thee  our  raviih'd  *oul ; 
Thy  glories  fix  ou^-  whole  delight, 
So  the  touch'd  needle  courts  the  pole." 

That  the  composition  of  this  fine  hymn 
of  the  sea  should  have  exposed  Doctor 
Byles  to  subsequent  satire  seems  at  least 
unfair,  but  as  London  in  the  eighteenth 
century  had  fierce  rivalries  that  led  liter- 
ary men  into  coarse  satirical  rhyming 
against  each  other,  so  Boston  had  its 
doggerel  rhymesters  who  occasionally  did 
what  they  could  to  turn  into  ridicule  the 
literary  compositions  and  smirch  if  they 
were  able  the  reputations  of  other  writers 
whom  they  disliked.  As  a  humourist  Doc- 
tor Byles  had  one  acknowledged  rival  in 
Boston,  who  was  almost  exactly  of  his 
own  age,  and  who  had  graduated  at  Har- 


184    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

vard  a  year  later  than  he,  a  merchant 
(the  doctor  sayi  "distiller")  named 
Joseph  Green.  Although  not  a  pro- 
fessional man.  Green  too  dabbled  a  good 
deal  in  literature,  writing  in  the  news- 
papers and  occasionally  venturing  into 
print  in  a  pamphlet.  His  writing  was  in 
both  prose  and  verse,  his  poetry  being 
frequently  humorous  and  always  read- 
able because  of  the  smoothness  with  which 
his  nimibers  flowed.  Towards  Doctor 
Byles  he  evidently  had  none  too  amiable 
a  feeling  and  he  was  never  averse  to  hold- 
ing the  minister  of  HoUis  Street  up  to 
ridicule  by  parodying  his  poetry  and  in 
other  conspicuous  ways.  It  is  said  that 
the  doctor's  friend  Governor  Belcher 
was  also  frequently  a  target  for  Green's 
shots,  and  that  this  o£Bcial  stood  a  good 
deal  in  awe  of  Green.*'  When  the  fact 
of  Doctor  Byles's  writing  the  hymn  at 
sea  became  currently  known  in  Boston, 
Green  saw  fit  to  ridicule  both  the  episode 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    IM 

and  the  hymn  iUelf.  The  hymn,  aa  we 
have  seen,  waa  ■omewi.^t  minutely  de- 
scriptive, and  this  feature  of  it  especially 
came  in  for  Green's  satire,  in  ordr-  to 
treat  properly  with  the  IxJa  .•  Cxn-^t-ri},, 
Belcher  was  supposed  t.>  uvi  litea  with 
him  on  the  voyage  a  potc*',.'  qjani  ly  pf 
rum,  and  this  fact  si  j  Gn. :.  (iocs  xnt 
fail  to  make  trenchant  allu<^  ou  >o  in  his 
parody.    The  satire  reads : 


"In  David's  Ftahns  an  oversight 
Byles  found  one  morning  o'er  his  tea. 
Alas,  why  did  not  David  write 
A  proper  ptabn  to  sing  at  sea? 

"Awhile  he  paused  and  stroked  his  Muse^* 
Then,  taking  up  his  tuneful  pen. 
Wrote  a  few  stanzas  for  the  use 
Of  his  seafaring  brethren. 

"The  task  perform'd,  the  Bard  content, 
Well  chosen  was  each  flowing  word ; 
On  a  short  voyage  himself  he  went. 
To  hear  it  read  and  sung  on  board. 


■'■■:. 
]4  I 


IS6    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"What  extanes  of  joy  appear, 
VHiat  pleamires  and  unknown  delights 
Thrilled  the  vain  poet's  soul  to  hear 
Others  repeat  the  things  he  writes. 

"Most  aged  Christians  do  aver. 
Their  credit  sure  we  may  rely  on. 
In  former  times,  that  after  prayer 
They  used  to  sing  a  song  of  Zion ; 

"Our  modem  parson,  having  pray'd. 
Unless  loud  fame  our  faith  beguiles. 
Sat  down,  took  out  his  book,  and  said, 
'Let's  sing  a  song  of  Mather  Byles.' 

"As  soon  as  he  began  to  read. 
Their  heads  the  assembly  downward  hung. 
But  he  with  boldness  did  pro'jeed. 
And  thus  he  read,  and  thus  they  sung,  — 

"Tra  151*  Pbalm 

"l^th  vast  amazement  we  survey 
The  wonders  of  the  deep. 
Where  mackrel  swim,  and  porpoise  play, 
And  crabs  and  lobsters  creep. 

"Fish  of  all  kinds  inhabit  there. 
And  throng  the  dark  abode ; 


' 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    187 

There  haddidc,  hake,  and  flounden  are. 
And  eek  and  perch  and  cod. 

"From  raging  winds  and  tempeats  free. 
So  smooth  that  as  you  pass. 
The  shining  surface  seems  to  be 
A  piece  of  Bristol  glass. 

'But  when  the  winds  tempestuous  rise. 
And  foaming  billows  swell. 
The  vessel  mounts  above  the  skies. 
Then  lower  sinks  than  hell. 

"Our  brains  the  tottering  motion  feel. 
And  quickly  we  become 
Giddy  as  new-dropt  calves,  and  reel 
Like  Indians  drunk  toith  rum. 

"What  praises  then  are  due  that  we 
Thus  far  have  safely  got, 
AmariKoggin  tribe  to  see. 
And  tribe  of  Penobscot." 

Before  long  Doctor  Byles  retorted  on 
Green  with  a  parody  on  Green's  parody, 
which  Doctor  Belknap  says  distinctly 
turned  the  laugh  on  Green.  Doctor 
Byles's  parody  in  one  form  (for  there  is 


188    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

another  slightly  different  version)  is  as 
follows : 

"In  ByWs  hymns  an  oversight 
Green  spy'd  as  once  he  smok'd  his  Chunk ; 
Alas  I  the  Byles  should  never  write 
A  song  to  sing  when  folks  are  drunk. 

[Doctor  Belknap  in  a  letter  to  Ebenezer 
Hazard  quotes  the  stanza  from  memory 
thus: 

"In  Byles's  hynms  an  oversight 
Green  spy'd  one  evening  o'er  his  junk ; 
Alas  I  why  did  not  Byles  indite 
A  song  to  sing  when  folks  are  drunk."] 

"Thus  in  the  chimney,  on  his  block. 
Ambition  fir'd  the  'stiller's  pate. 
He  summoned  all  his  httle  stock. 
The  poet's  volume  to  complete. 

"Long  paus'd  the  lout,  and  scratch'd  his  skull. 
Then  took  his  chalk  (he  own'd  no  pen), 
And  scrawl'd  some  doggrel,  for  the  whole 
Of  his  flip-drinking  brethren. 

"The  task  perform'd  —  not  to  content  — 
111  chosen  was  each  Grub-street  word ; 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    1S9 

Strait  to  the  tavern  club  he  went. 
To  hear  it  bellow'd  round  the  boaid. 

"Unknown  delights  his  ears  explore, 
Inur'd  to  midnight  caterwauls. 
To  hear  his  hoarse  companions  roar. 
The  horrid  thing  his  dulness  scrawls. 

"The  club,  if  fame  we  may  rely  on, 
Conven'd,  to  hear  the  drunken  catch, 

At  the  three  horae-shoes  or  red  lion 

Tippling  began  the  night's  debauch. 

"The  little  'stiller  took  the  pint 
Still  fraught  with  flip  and  songs  obscene. 
And,  after  a  long  stutt'ring,  meant 
To  sing  a  song  of  Josy  Green. 

"Soon  as  with  stam'ring  tongue,  to  read 
The  drunken  ballad,  he  began. 
The  club  from  clam'ring  strait  recede, 
To  hear  him  roar  the  thing  alone. 

"SONO 

'Wth  vast  amazement  we  survey 
The  can  so  broad,  so  broad,  so  deep. 
Where  punch  succeeds  to  strong  gangree. 
Both  to  delightful  flip. 


140    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"Drink  of  all  amadu,  inhabit  here> 
And  throng  the  dark  abode ; 
Here's  rum,  and  sugar,  and  small  beer. 
In  a  continual  flood. 

"From  cruel  thoughts  and  conscience  fre«^ 
From  dram  to  dram  we  pass ; 
Our  cheeks,  like  apples,  ruddy  be; 
Our  eyeballs  look  like  glass. 

"At  once,  like  furies,  up  i0e  rise. 
Our  raging  passions  swell ; 
We  hurl  the  bottle  to  the  skies. 
But  why  we  cannot  tell. 

"Our  brains  a  tott'ring  motion  fed. 
And  quickly  we  become 
Sick,  as  with  negro  steaks,  and  red 
like  Indians  drunk  with  rum. 

"Thus  lost  in  deep  tranquillity, 
We  sit,  supine  and  sot. 
Till  we  two  moons  distinctly  see  — 
Come  give  us  'tother  pot." 

The  phrase  "negro  steaks,"  in  the  last 
stanza  but  one  of  this  parody,  is  an  allusion 
to  an  unsavoury  story  at  that  time  current 


DOCTOR  BYLES'S  HUMOUR    141 

in  Boston  that  on  one  occasion  some  prac- 
tical joker  had  imposed  steaks  cut  from  a 
dead  negro,  instead  of  beef,  on  the  convivial 
club  to  which  Green  belonged." 

At  some  period  in  his  ministerial  career 
Doctor  Byles  had  his  study  painted  brown. 
In  explanation  of  the  rather  dull  colour 
he  is  said  to  have  told  people  that  he 
wanted  to  be  able  on  occasion  to  say  he 
was  in  "a  brown  study."    On  a  certain 
day   he   went,   perhaps   somewhat   reluc- 
tantly, to  see  a  parishioner  who  was  con- 
valescing from  smallpox.    As  he  entered 
the    patient's    room    he    piously    uttered 
what  the  man  took  to  be  the  familiar 
ecclesiastical   salutation,    "Pax  te  cuml" 
Doctor  Byles's  actual  salutation,  however, 
was,  "Pox  take 'em!" 


CHAPTER  vm 

DiBMIBSAL  FBOM  HiS  CHmElCH 

Thboughotjt  New  England  from  the 
earliest  times,  even  after  the  government 
had  ceased  to  be  strictly  a  theocracy, 
church  and  state  were  so  closely  united 
that  the  meeting-houses  were  the  chief 
places  where  the  fires  of  independence  in 
communities  were  kept  aflame.  When  the 
war  of  the  Revolution  was  in  its  early 
stages,  of  the  various  religious  meeting- 
houses of  Boston  besides  the  Anglican 
churches,  there  was  probably  only  the 
HoUis  Street  Church  where  more  or  less 
fierce  denunciations  of  England  were  not 
heard  from  the  pulpits  and  where  the 
congregations  were  not  strongly  urged  to 
resistance  against  her  oppressions.  The 
Old  South  Church,  as  is  well  known,  was 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHUBCH    143 

the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  stirring 
events  of  the  struggle,  and  when  the  siege 
of  Boston  began,  its  minister  like  all  the 
other  Congregational  ministers  of  the  town 
with    the   exception    of    Doctor   Andi«w 
Eliot  of  the  New  North  Church.  D«K5tor 
Samuel  Mather,  and  Doctor  Mather  Byles, 
at  once  took  refuge,  with  a  laige  part  of 
their   parishioners,   in   the   country   near. 
Of  these  ministers  of  Boston,  and  indeed 
of  the  whole  body  of  Congregational  min- 
isters in  New  England,  Doctor  Byles  alone 
sympathized    with    the    crown.    In    the 
"Memorial  Histoiy  of  Boston"  the  writer 
on  the  Boston  "Pulpit  of  the  Revolution" 
says:     Doctor    Byles    "tried,    with    un- 
doubted   sincerity,    to   avoid    politics    in 
the   pulpit,    but   his    opinions    were    too 
notorious,  and  his  sharp  tongue  was  too 
free,  to  make  his  position  long  an  agree- 
able one  either  to  his  people  or  to  him- 
self."   M?  Ephraim  Eliot  in  his  historical 
notices  of  the  New  North  Church  says  that 


144    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Doctor  Andrew  Eliot's  remaining  in  town 
during  the  siege  was  enforced  probably  by 
the  selectmen,  so  that  Congregational  wor- 
ship bLjuld  be  maintained;  Doctor  Byles, 
he  say£  'being  in  the  Tory  interest  was 
neglec-e !  by  most  of  the  inhabitants, 
althoL;  h  he  performed  service  for  some  time 
in  one  of  the  central  meeting-houses." 

That  Doctor  Byles  persistently  refused 
to  preach  on  political  subjects,  when  all 
the  other  ministers  of  his  denomination 
were  doing  so,  seems  to  have  produced 
great  dissatisfaction  among  his  people. 
In  answer  to  their  queries  as  to  why  he 
avoided  politics  in  his  sermons  he  is  re- 
ported to  have  sententiously  said:  "I 
have  thrown  up  four  breastworks,  behind 
which  I  have  entrenched  myself,  neither 
of  which  can  be  forced.  In  the  first  place, 
I  do  not  understand  politics ;  in  the  second 
place,  you  all  do,  every  man  and  mother's 
son  of  you;  in  the  third  place,  you  have 
politics  all  the  week,  —  pray  let  one  day 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    144 

out  of  seven  be  devoted  to  religion;   and 
in  the  fourth  place,  I  am  engaged  in  a 
work    of    infinitely    greater    importance. 
Give  me  any  subject  to  preach  upon  of 
more  consequence  than  the  truths  I  bring 
to  you,  and  I  will  preach  upon  it  the  next 
Sabbat!  "    For  the  unique  position  Doc- 
tor Byles  held  among  his  brethren  of  the 
Congregational  clergy,  in  the  great  political 
struggle  of  the  country  through  which  he 
lived,  it  is  on  the  whole  not  difficult  to  find 
the  reasons.    No  Puritan  minister  in  New 
England  in  his  time,  probably,  had  lived 
in  so  close  friendly  relations  with  the  lead- 
ing government  officials  and  their  families 
as  he,  and  his  sympathies  socially  were 
profoundly   with    the   more   conservative 
class.    In  the  second  place  he  was  a  poet 
and  the  vulgar  clash  of  political  parties 
and  the  details  of  political  administration, 
as  with  many  such  men,  were  imcongenial 
to  him,  and  he  preferred  as  much  as  pos- 
sible to  let  them  alone. 


T 


IM    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

So  far  M  we  know.  Doctor  Bylea  hai 
nowhere  left  on  record  in  any  detail  his 
views  on  the  several  questions  that  were 
so  fiercely  in  dispute  in  the  Revolutionary 
struggle,  but  he  undoubtedly  had  views 
on  them  all,  and  at  times  expressed  them, 
and  his  views  were  the  common  ones  of 
the   Tory   party,    with    whom   his    sym- 
pathies  were.    "In   March,    1770,"    says 
his  friend  Doctor  Nathaniel  Emmons.  "I 
stood  with  Parson  Byles  on  the  comer  of 
what   are   now   School    and    Washington 
streets  and  watched  the  funeral  procession 
of  Crispus  Attucks,  that  half  Indian,  half 
negro,  and  altogether  rowdy,  who  should 
have  been  strangled  long  before  he  was 
bom.    There  were  all  of  three  thousand 
in  the  procession,  the  most  of  them  drawn 
from  the  slums  of  Boston;    and  as  they 
went  by  the  Parson  turned  to  me  and 
said  —  'They  call  me  a  brainless  Tory; 
but  ttili  lae,  my  young  friend,  which  is 
better,  to  be  ruled  by  one  tyrant  three 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    147 

thousand  miles  away,  or  by  three  thousand 
tyrants  not  a  mile  away?'"  Doctor  Em- 
mons is  further  quoted  as  saying  to  the 
friend  to  whom  he  related  this  incident : " 
"I  tell  you,  my  boy,  there  was  just  as 
much  humbug  m  politics  seventy  years 
ago  as  there  is  to-day;  and  throwing  out 
Sam  and  John  Adams  and  John  Hancock, 
and  some  few  other  leaders,  the  majority 
of  our  New  England  patriots  were  a  sorry 
set." 

In  the  twenty-seventh  volume  of  the 
New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical 
Register,  in  a  note  on  the  May  family  of 
Boston  a  writer  says:  "Doctor  Byles,  as 
is  well  known,  was  a  steady  opponent  of 
the  patriotic  movement,  of  which  Boston 
was  the  headquarters,  and  in  all  ways 
strove  to  ridicule  it  and  its  principal 
supporters.  As  he  gave  verj'  free  ex- 
pression to  his  feelings,  his  opponents, 
of  course,  were  not  backward  in  their 
censures   of   him."    The   statement   that 


Miaocorv  aisoiuiioN  nsi  cha>t 

(*NSI  and  ISO  TESt  CHAKT  No.  2) 


tn 


t.l 


■  23 
1^ 


A 


S    /^PLIED  IIVHGE     I.-C 


16S3  Cast  Wain  Strxl 

RochMltr,   N**   York         1*609        U&* 

(716)  *a2  -  0300  -  Phone 

(716)   288-  5989  -  Fa. 


148    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

wlule  Byles  refused  to  discuss  politics 
in  the  pulpit  he  gave  free  rein  to  his  powers 
of  sarcasm  in  opposition  to  the  Patriot 
cause  is  undoubtedly  true,  for  while  one 
of  his  deacons,  Mr.  Benjamin  Church, 
sympathized  with  the  Tories  and  upheld 
his  minister,  most  of  the  Hollis  Street 
congregation  were  extremely  bitter  against 
him,  the  May  family,  !^t  least,  withdrawing 
from  the  Hollis  Street  Church  and  uniting 
with  the  Old  South.  When  the  royal 
troops  invested  Boston  most  of  Doctor 
Byles's  congregation  that  could  get  away 
hurried  out  of  the  town,  but  the  doctor 
and  his  family  stayed,  and  his  sUying  was 
one  of  the  charges  brought  against  him 
when  his  congregation  at  last  returned. 

In  this  day  of  dear  judgment  on  the 
issues  at  stake  in  the  Revolution,  the 
bitterness  Doctor  Byles  felt  towards  the 
Patriots  in  Boston  is  not  hard  to  explain. 
Like  his  friend  Copley  he  had  no  doubt 
long  foreseen  that  unless  England  changed 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    149 

her  policy  towards  the  colonies,  a  revolt 
was  ineviteble,  but  when  the  crisis  came 
he  saw  so  much  fanaticism  mingled  with 
the  true  spirit  of  independence  that  like 
many  another  man  of  patriotic  but  con- 
servative   views    he    was    disgusted    with 
the  outbreaks  of  feeling  he  witnessed  and 
contemptuous  of  the  methods   by  which 
many    of    his    fellow-citizens    sought    to 
redress    their    wrongs.     We    have    spoken 
of  his  probable  intimacy  with  Eari  Percy, 
"I  am  sorry  to  say."  wrote  Percy  to  his 
father,  in  1774,  "that  no  body  of  men  in 
this  Province  are  so  extremely  injurious 
to  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  it  as  the 
clergy.    They  preach  up  sedition  openly 
from  their  pulpits.    Nay,  some  of  them 
have  gone  so  far  as  absolutely  to  refuse 
the  sacrament  to  the  communicants  till 
they  have   signed   a  paper  of  the   most 
seditious  kind,  which  they  have  denomi- 
nated the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant." 
To   Henry   Reveley,   Esq.,   of  Peckham, 


160    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Surrey,  he  writes:  "The  people  here  are 
a  set  of  sly,  artful,  hypocritical  rascals, 
cruel  and  cowards.  I  must  cwn  I  can- 
not but  despise  them  completely."  "This 
day,  five  years  are  completed,"  writes 
Judge  Samuel  Curwen  in  his  journal  in 
1780,  "since  I  abandoned  my  house,  es- 
tate, and  effects  and  fronds.  God  only 
knows  whether  I  shall  cr  be  restored 
to  them,  or  they  to  me.  Party  rage, 
like  jealousy  and  superstition  is  cruel  as 
the  grave;  that  moderation  is  a  crime, 
.  .  .  many  good  virtuous,  and  peaceable 
persons  now  suffering  banishment  from 
America  are  the  wretched  proofs  and.  in- 
stances." "Would  to  God,"  he  earlier 
writes,  "this  ill-judged,  unnatural  quarrel 
were  ended." 

While  the  British  were  in  possession  of 
the  town  Doctor  Byles  and  his  family 
were  evidently  on  terms  of  dose  friendship 
with  the  leading  commanders  of  the  troops, 
and    M'    Harold    Murdock    is    probably 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    161 

quite  right  in  imagining  Doctor  Byles 
to  have  been  an  occasional  guest  at  Eari 
Percy's  dinner  table,  in  the  house  this 
charming  young  nobleman  had  rented  at 
the  head  of  Winter  Street,  on  the  edge  of 
the  Common.  But  Byles's  intimacy  with 
British  o£Scers  did  not  prevent  the  quarter- 
ing of  troops  in  the  Hollis  Street  meeting- 
house, as  in  the  Old  South  and  the  Brattle 
Street  Churches,  and  when  Doctor  Byles's 
congregation  came  back  they  found  to 
their  great  indignation  the  pews  taken 
down  and  stored  in  the  gallery,  to  be  used 
as  fuel  should  necessity  require,  a  box 
stove  set  up  in  the  church,  the  pipe  of 
which  went  perpendicularly  through  the 
roof,  and  the  floor  still  littered  with  straw, 
which  had  no  doubt  served  the  soldiers 
as  beds.  Collecting  their  forces,  the 
leaders  of  the  congregation  accordingly 
resolved  without  further  delay  to  rid  them- 
selves of  their  unpatriotic  pastor,  whose 
voice    they   were   stoutly   resolved   never 


158    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

to  hear  in  their  pulpit  again.  The  regular 
way  of  dismissing  him  would  have  been 
to  call  an  advisory  council  of  sister 
churches  to  review  his  conduct  and  coun- 
sel the  church  how  to  act.  But  instead 
of  doing  this  they  took  matters  promptly 
into  their  own  hands  and  prepared  to  deal 
with  the  minister  by  themselves. 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolve,  they  gave 
public  notice  that  on  the  9*?"  of  August 
(1776)  the  church  would  meet  Doctor 
Byles  and  give  him  a  chance  to  answer 
the  charges  they  had  to  prefer  against 
him.  When  the  day  came  the  male  mem- 
bers of  the  church  seated  themseivres  ui 
one  of  the  galleries,  and  waited  for  the 
doctor  to  appear.  Presently  he  entered, 
dressed  in  gown  and  bands,  on  his  head 
a  full  bush  wig  that  had  been  recently 
powdered,  surmounted  by  a  large  three- 
cornered  hat.  With  due  solenmity  of 
bearing  and  with  a  long  and  measured 
tread   Byles   walked   to   the   pulpit   and 


fl 


0u/£;}y .  uf,^k .  4^  p^-jr  ^^  Cf/ifi^ 

'^-P^^    £^,r^,ir-^   ^^^J\I^   ' 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    15S 

ascended  the  stairs.  Hanging  his  hat  on 
a  peg,  he  seated  himself,  and  after  a  few 
moments  silence,  "with  a  portentous  air" 
turned  towards  the  gallery  where  his  ac- 
cusers sat.  Looking  at  them  sternly  he 
called  out:  "If  ye  have  aught  to  com- 
municate, say  on  !"  After  a  moment  of 
terrible  stillness,  a  small,  weak-voiced  dea- 
con arose,  and  unfolding  a  paper  began 
feebly  to  read.  "The  church  of  Christ 
in  HoUis  Street"  —  he  said.  "Louder!" 
cried  the  angry  Doctor  Byles.  Again  the 
little  deacon,  trying  to  raise  his  voice, 
began:  "The  church  of  Christ  in  HoUis 
Street"  —  But  again  the  doctor's  sten- 
torian voice  thimdered  out  "Louder !" 
A  third  time  the  deacon  essayed  to  read, 
when  once  more  he  was  interrupted  with 
"Louder  !  Louder,  I  say  !"  The  deacon 
now,  trembling  at  the  minister's  wrath, 
strained  his  voice  to  the  utmost  and  read 
the  specifications  of  unministerial  and  un- 
patriotic conduct    on    the    doctor's    part 


154    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

which  he  and  his  fellow-memben  had 
laboriously  drawn  up.  When  the  third 
or  fourth  charge  had  been  read  Doctor 
Byles  rose  and  shouted  at  the  top  of  his 
voice :  "  'Tis  false  I  'Tis  false  1  'Tis  false  I 
and  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Hollis  Street 
knows  that  'tis  false  !"  whereupon  he  seized 
his  hat,  planted  it  firmly  on  his  head,  and 
in  fierce  indignation  dramatically  moved 
out  of  the  church,  never  while  he  lived  to 
enter  its  doors  again. 

The  specific  charges  made  against  Doc- 
tor Byles  by  his  people  were,  that  he  had 
stayed  in  town  during  the  siege;  that  he 
had  "pray'd  in  publick  that  America  might 
submitt  to  Grate  Brittain,  or  words  to 
the  same  purpose";  that  he  "associated 
and  spent  a  considerable  part  of  his  time 
with  the  officers  of  the  British  army, 
having  them  frequently  at  his  house  and 
lending  them  his  glasses  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  the  works  erecting  out  of  town 
for   our   Defense";   that  he  treated  the 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    IM 

public  calamity  with  "a  grate  cegree  of 
liteness  and  Indi£Ference,  saying  when  hia 
townspeople  left  their  houses  that  a  better 
sort  of  ptople  would  take  their  place,  or 
words  to  that  purpose  " ;  and  that  "  he  fre- 
quently met  on  Lord's  days,  before  and 
after  service,  with  a  number  of  our  In- 
veterate Enemies,  at  a  certain  place  ir 
King  Street  called  Tory  Hall."  One  week 
later  than  the  doctor's  dramatic  arraign- 
ment in  the  meeting-house  the  church 
again  met  and  voted  "that  the  Rev^ 
Doctor  Mather  Byles,  having  by  his  con- 
duct put  an  end  to  his  usefulness  as  a 
Publick  preacher  amongst  us.  Be  and 
hereby  is,  dismissed  from  his  Fasteral 
charge."  " 

Of  the  general  truth  of  these  accusations 
of  the  church  against  Doctor  Byles  we 
suppose  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Precisely 
what  his  feelings  were,  or  indeed  the  feel- 
ings of  many  of  his  fellow  ^ories,  as  they 
witnessed  for  years  previous  to  the  Revolu- 


!  !•; 


IM  THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

tion    the    growing   friction    between    the 
royal   governors   and   the   general   court, 
the  contest  of  the  wriU  of  auistance,  the 
riotous  outbursts  against  the  SUmp  Act, 
the  throwing  of  the  tea  into  the  harbour, 
the  fights  along  the  road  between  Concord 
and  Lexington,  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
Washington's  taking  command  of  the  army 
at  Cambridge  and  his  memorable  seizure 
of   Dorchester   Heights,    we   are   left    to 
imagme,  but  while  he  was  far  too  intelli- 
gent and  patriotic  not  to  have  been  stirred 
by  his  country's  grievances,  Byles  no  doubt, 
with  many  others,  felt  that  it  was  a  far 
smaller    evil    to    submit    temporarily    to 
British  oppression,  caused  by  the  stupid 
obstinacy    and    want    of    statesmanlike 
knowledge  of  ministers,  than  violently  to 
cast   off   allegiance   to   the   British    flag, 
and  whatever  influence  he  had  as  a  clergy- 
man and  a  private  gentleman  he  had  nat- 
urally thrown   wholly  on  the  unpopular 
side.    Thnt  the  British  oflScers  of  highest 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    157 

rank  in  comnumd  of  the  forces  were  fre- 
quently entertained  at  his  house  during 
the  siege  was  undoubtedly  true,  it  is  even 
said  that  on  this  account,  and  because 
of  the  detestation  in  which  he  was  gener- 
ally held  for  his  political  principles,  the 
blmds  in  hu  house  had  to  be  kept  tightly 
closed  in  the  evenings  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  siege,  lest  the  lights  shining 
out  should  make  the  house  a  target  tr 
unfriendly  shots  from  the  soldiers  en- 
camped on  Dorchester  Heights. 

Although  the  bitterest  feeling  against 
Doctor  Byles  existed  in  the  minds  of  his 
fellow-ministers  when  they  returned  to 
their  churches,  it  is  evident  that  some  of 
them  entirely  disapproved  of  the  course 
the  HoUis  Street  Church  had  taken  in  not 
seeking  advice  from  other  churches  in 
dissolving  the  relations  between  ihem  and 
their  pastor.  "It  was  the  greatest  in- 
jury to  the  ministry  that  ever  was  done 
when   this   church  proceeded   to   dismiss 


158    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Df  Byles  without  any  kind  of  advice  from 
an  Ecclesiastical  Council,"  writes  young 
Rev.  John  Eliot  from  Boston  to  his  friend 
Rev.  Jeremy  Belknap  at  Dover,  June  ITV", 
1777.      A    little   earlier   Mr   Eliot    says: 
"Dr  Byles's  church  is   supplied   by  Mr. 
Bradford,  a  young  gentleman,  a  friend  of 
mine,  a  new  beginner.    The  Doctor  struts 
about  town  in  the  luxuriance  of  his  self- 
sufficiency,   looking  as   if  he  despised  all 
mankind.    He  never  attends  any  meet- 
ing.   How  he   doth   for   a   maintenance, 
nobody  knows  besides  him,  and  the  only 
account  he  can  give  us  is,  'That  he  doubles 
and  trebles  his  money.'    He  is  a  virulent 
Tory,  and  destitute  of  all  prudence.  .  .  . 
Notwithstanding  I   despise   Dr   Byles   as 
much  as  a  man  can  hold  another,  yet  I 
think  y?  proceedings  of  that  church  with 
him    were    irregular    and    unwarrantable, 
and  hath  held  up  a  precedent  for  a  practise 
that  will  cause  y*  ruin  of  our  ecclesiastical 
constitution,  weaken  y*  hands  of  y*  minis- 


DISMISSAL  FROM  CHURCH    169 

try,  and  lay  such  discouragement  before 
candidates  as  will  prevent  their  settling, 
and  in  a  few  years  the  harvest  must  be 
almost  destitute  of  labourers.  When  the 
church  at  Bolton  made  this  innovation 
IH  Chauncy  was  so  angiy  that  he  would 
have  refused  holding  communion  with  the 
members;  yet  now  he  justifies  and  was 
the  cause  of  this  church  at  Boston  pro- 
ceeding in  the  way  they  have  done.  He 
says,  'Byles  is  not  fit  for  a  preacher.'  So 
say  I,  but  I  would  have  had  a  Council, 
and  I  am  certain  any  Coimcil  would  have 
given  him  his  quietus."  " 

The  reason  given  by  M^  Ephraim  Eliot 
for  Doctor  Byles's  summary  dismissal  from 
his  pastorate  is  that  he  not  only  had  of- 
fended his  people  by  his  Tory  principles, 
but  had  lost  their  respect  by  indulging 
"in  a  natural  vein  of  low  wit  and  ridicu- 
lous punning."  "  If  the  latter  charge  b 
true  we  must  accept  it  largely  on  M' 
Eliot's  statement:    we  believe  it  has  no 


160    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

explicit  confirmation  in  any  other  pub- 
lished writing.  Of  the  abrupt  termina- 
tion of  Doctor  Byles's  ministry.  Rev. 
George  Leonard  Chaney.  a  late  pastor  of 
the  HoUis  Street  Church  says :  "Although 
ordinarily  Df  Byles's  pastorate  would 
have  lasted  till  his  death,  at  that  day 
politics  and  religion  were  so  much  one 
that  unfaithfulness  to  civil  liberty  was 
regarded  by  these  patriots  as  an  unpar- 
donable offence  against  the  Church.  It 
was  on  this  ground  that  the  tie  between 
pastor  and  people  was  broken,  a  tie  which 
at  that  time  was  as  binding  as  that  which 
wedded  man  and  wife." 


CHAPTER  IX 

Tbial  before  the  Town 

After  his  dismissal  from  his  pastorate 
a  further  trial  and  condemnation  for  his 
Tory  principles  awaited  Doctor  Byles  from 
the  Boston  civil  authorities.  In  the 
Records  of  the  Committee  of  Correspond- 
ence and  Safety  of  August,  1776,  we  find : 
"Information  having  been  given  this  Com- 
mittee of  a  number  of  Persons  who  had 
heard  Doctor  Byles  express  himself  very 
unfriendly  to  this  Country,  Mr  Thomas 
was  directed  to  require  their  attendance. 
A  number  of  Persons  appeared  tnJ  were 
examined  as  to  what  they  knew  relative 
to  Doctor  Byles."  In  a  meeting  held  on 
the  17*  of  May,  1777.  the  Boston  select- 
men in  pursuance  of  a  law  that  had  lately 
been  passed  presented  a  list  of  names  of 


162    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

persons  belonging  to  the  town  who  had 
been  endeavouring,  as  it  was  charged, 
"since  the  IQf"  of  April,  1775,  to  counter- 
act the  united  struggles  of  this  and  the 
neighbouring  state,"  and  of  these  offend- 
ing names  Doctor  Byles's  stood  second. 
At  a  special  Sessions  of  the  Peace  held  on 
the  second  of  June,  Byles  was  tried  and 
convicted  of  disloyalty  to  the  state  and 
was  ordered  to  be  confined  on  board  a 
guard  ship  or  otherwise  secured,  until  he 
could  be  sent  either  to  the  West  Indies 
or  to  Europe.  In  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society  Collections  is  printed  an 
extract  from  the  Boston  Gazette  of  June  9, 
1777,"  which  says:  "At  the  special  Ses- 
sions of  the  Peace  held  here  on  Monday 
last  came  on  the  trial  of  Mather  Byles, 
late  minister  of  the  Gospel  in  this  town, 
charged  with  being  an  enemy  to  the  United 
States;  when  after  a  fair  and  candid  ex- 
amination of  evidence  the  jury  returned 
their  verdict,  that  he,  Mather  Byles,  ia 


TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  TOWN    168 

and  has  been  smce  the  lOV"  of  April,  1775, 
inimically  disposed  towards  this  and  the 
other  United  States,  and  that  his  residence 
in  this  State  is  dangerous  to  the  public 
peace  and  safety.  He  was  then  delivered 
into  the  custody  of  a  proper  officer,  who 
conducted  him  to  the  Honourable  the 
Board  of  War,  there  to  be  dealt  with 
agreeable  to  a  late  act  of  this  State,  for 
such  persons  made  and  provided." 

William  Tudor  in  his  "Life  of  James 
Otis"  says  of  Doctor  Byles's  trial:  "On 
being  brought  before  the  Board  of  War 
he  was  treated  with  respect,  and  he  was 
ordered  to  be  confined  to  his  own  house 
for  a  short  time."  "As  there  seems  to 
have  been  nothing  absolutely  treasonable 
in  his  conduct,"  he  rather  naively  pro- 
ceeds, "it  may  be  doubted  whether  he 
would  have  experienced  any  inconvenience 
on  account  of  his  political  sentiments  if 
he  had  not  provoked  enmity  in  other  ways. 
He  possessed  in  a  remarkable  degree  a 


164    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


ready  and  powerful  wit,  a  quality  which 
commonly  excites  more  envy  than  good 
will,  and  unless  accompanied  with  great 
discretion  is  often  an  unfortunate  gift. 
He  sor;etimes  exerted  this  talent  where 
good  nature  would  have  refrained,  and 
left  a  lasting  sting  by  a  transient  jest." 
In  a  volume  of  manuscript  records  in  the 
Massachusetts  State  Archives  pertaining 
to  the  Royalists  in  the  Revolution,  is  to 
be  found  the  following  warrant  issued  by 
the  Court  of  Sessions  to  the  sheriff  for 
Doctor  Byles's  arrest  and  transportation: 
"Whereas  Mather  Byles  of  Boston  in  S? 
county,  clerk,  stands  convicted  at  Boston 
afores'  on  the  second  Day  of  June  a.d. 
1777  as  a  person  who  hath  been  from  the 
nineteenth  day  of  April  a.d.  1775,  & 
now  is  so  inimically  disposed  towards 
this  &  the  other  United  States  of  America 
that  his  further  residence  in  this  State 
is  dangerous  to  the  public  peace  and  safety. 
You  are  therefore  in  the  name  of  the  gov- 


TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  TOWN    165 

eminent  &  people  of  Mass^  Bay  in  New 
England  hereby  directed  immediately  to 
deliver  the  s?  Mather  to  the  board  of  war 
of  the  State  to  be  by  them  put  on  board 
a  guard  ship  or  otherwise  secured  until 
they  can  transport  s^  Mather  Byles  ofif 
the  continent  to  some  part  of  the  West 
Indies  or  Europe  agreeable  to  a  late  law 
of  8^  State.  Given  under  our  hands  and 
seals  at  Boston  afores^  the  second  day  of 
June  in  the  year  of  the  Lord  1777, 

John  Hill 

Sahl.  Peuberton 

Joseph  Gbeenleaf 

Joseph  Gabdner 
The  warrant  is  endorsed  on  the  back: 
"Warrant  to  deliver  Mather  Byles  to  the 
Board  of  War  June  8?  1777." 

Under  date  of  June  18,  1777,  the  Rev. 
Doctor  Ezra  Stiles  in  his  diary  says: 
"The  Rev?  M'  Clark,  Episc»  Minister 
in  Dedham,  was  last  week  adjudged  by  a 
Jury  an  enemy  to  his  Country,  and  sent 


166    THE  FAMOUS  liATHER  BYLES 

on  board  the  Guard  Ship  at  Boston.  So 
one  Episc*  and  one  Presb.  Minister  (Dr. 
Byles)  formally  tried  and  condemned  ac- 
cord* to  act  of  Mast  Assembly."  " 

What  influence  may  have  prevented 
the  Boston  authorities'  carrying  out  the 
rigorous  sentence  they  had  imposed  on 
Doctor  Byles  we  are  nowhere  certainly 
told.  It  has  been  said  in  print  that  the 
doctor  flatly  told'  the  selectmen  that  he 
would  not  leave  the  town,  it  has  also  been 
stated  that  in  their  final  dealing  with  the 
old  minister  the  authorities  considered  his 
age,  which  at  this  time  was  a  little  over 
seventy.  It  may  be,  even,  though  it 
hardly  seems  likely,  that  some  one  or 
more  of  the  other  Boston  ministers  inter- 
ceded to  have  his  sentence  remitted,  at 
any  rate  he  was  not  placed  on  the  guard 
ship  but  was  confined  to  his  own  house, 
before  which  a  sentinel  was  placed  to  pre- 
vent his  being  visited  by  or  having  com- 
munication  with    any   friends   he   might 


TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  TOWN    167 

still  have  in  the  town.  For  probably 
two  or  three  months,  with  a  short  interval 
during  which  the  sentinel  was  removed, 
the  farce  of  guarding  the  old  Tory  was 
kept  up,  but  at  last  his  absurd  imprison- 
ment came  to  an  end,  and  he  was  allowed 
once  more  freely  to  go  about  the  town. 

In  July,  1778,  while  Doctor  Byles  was 
imprisoned  in  his  house  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Bailey,  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  well 
known  to  us  as  "the  frontier  missionary," 
came  from  Pownalborough,  Maine,  to  Bos- 
ton, on  business,  and  was  permitted  to 
visit  the  old  Royalist.  Under  date  of 
July  23?  Mr  Bailey  writes  in  his  diary: 
"After  breakfast  went  to  visit  the  famous 
p  Byles.  who  was  detained  a  prisoner 
in  his  own  house.  He  received  me,  ac- 
cordmg  to  his  manner,  with  great  freedom, 
and  enterUined  me  with  a  variety  of  puns. 
He  was  mightly  pleased  with  the  letters 
I  brought  him  from  his  son  and  grand- 
daughter, and  instructed  his  daughters,  a 


168    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


't   ! 


couple  of  fine  young  Iwliei,  to  read  them.** 
I  observed  that  he  had  a  large  collection 
of  curiosities,  and  the  best  library  I  had 
seen  in  this  country.  He  is  a  gentleman 
of  learning  and  great  imagination,  has  an 
uncommon  share  of  pride,  and  though 
agreeable  when  discoursing  upon  any  sub- 
ject, yet  the  perpetua)  reaching  after  puns 
renders  his  ordinary  conversation  rather 
distasteful  to  persons  of  elegance  and 
refinement.  He  gave  me  a  circumstantial 
account  of  his  trial  wher  condemned  for 
transportation.  He  car^ully  preserved  his 
talent  for  punning  through  the  whole. 
I  recollect  one  instance:  when  he  was 
conducted  into  the  apartment  where  his 
judges  sat  with  great  solemnity,  who  de- 
sired him  to  sit  by  the  fire,  as  the  weather 
was  cold:  'Gentlemen,'  said  he,  'when  I 
came  among  you  I  expected  persecution, 
but  I  could  not  think  you  would  have 
offered  me  the  fire  so  suddenly.'  After 
looking  at  several  fine  prospects,  and  hear- 


TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  TOWN    169 

ing  two  or  three  tunes  on  the  organ  by  one 
of  his  daughters,  I  took  my  leave,  with  an 
invitation  and  promise  to  renew  my  visit." 
Of  the  doctor's  trial  and  his  conduct 
throughout  the  ordeal,  and  of  the  justice 
of  the  verdict  given  against  him,  young 
John  Eliot,  not  yet  ordained,  with  char- 
acteristic bitterness  against  the  old  minis- 
ter, and  with  the  cocksureness  of  youth 
writes  to  Jeremy  Belknap:  "I  will  ac- 
quaint a  little  about  our  Bostonian  court. 
The  first  called  to  the  bar  was  the  mag- 
nificent Doctor.  He  had  on  his  large 
whig  [sic],  long  band,  a  black  coat,  &c. 
He  appeared  without  counsel,  and  upon 
the  nomination  of  the  g'uiy  he  objected  to 
one  Fallas,  commonly  called  Fellows,  be- 
cause he  said  he  would  not  be  tried  by 
Jeliowt.  The  evidence  was  much  more  in 
favour  of  him  than  against  him.  All 
that  could  be  proved  was  that  he  is  a 
silly,  impertinent,  childish  person;  I  should 
say    incoa»i3tent,    if    his    whole    conduct 


170    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

did  not  manifest  him  to  be  oae  conaistent 
np  of  absurdity.  ...  It  was  to  the 
very  great  surprise  of  every  one  present, 
as  well  as  to  the  whole  town,  that  he 
should  be  bro't  in  guilty.  Hi«  general 
character  has  been  so  despicaL''^  that  he 
seems  to  have  no  friends  to  pity  him,  tho 
all  allow  upon  such  evidence  he  o't  not  be 
condemned.  The  women  all  proclaim  a 
judgment  from  Heaven  as  r  punishment 
for  his  ill  treatment  of  his  wives.  Ven- 
geance has  at  length  overtaken  him,  they 
say,  and  his  present  sufferings  will  now 
bring  him  to  reflection,  and  he  will  now 
find  that  a  Righteous  Being  taketh  notice 
of  all  unrighteousness  among  men,  and 
at  proper  times  humbles  the  most  haughty 
and  self-sufficient.  The  Doctor  is  still 
confined  to  his  house,  deprived  of  visitors, 
to  be  removed  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Board 
of  War.  How  are  the  mighty  fallen  !"  " 
From  Miss  Catherine  Byles,  the  doc- 
tor's youngest  daughter,  we  have  an  in- 


TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  TOWN    171 


teresting  account,  written  on  the  thirteenth 
of  October,  1778,  of  the  trial  of  her  father 
by  the  church  and  the  town  authoritiei. 
Miu  Byles  writes:  "Upon  the  first  open- 
ing of  the  town  [after  the  evacuation],  the 
people  among  whom  my  father  had  offi- 
ciated for  forty-three  years  had  an  irregular 
meeting  and  desired  his  attendance ;  when 
a  charge  of  his  attachment  to  government 
was  read,  of  which,  as  he  never  could  ob- 
tain a  copy,  I  am  unable  to  give  an  exact 
accoimt.  Among  others  were  included  his 
friendly  disposition  to  the  British  troops, 
particularly  his  entertaining  them  at  our 
house,  indulging  them  with  his  telescope, 
&c.,  his  prayers  for  the  King,  and  for 
the  preservation  of  the  town  during  the 
siege.  Some  time  after  this  a  few  lines 
were  sent  him,  informing  him  that  six 
weeks  before  (without  so  much  as  the 
advice  of  any  Council)  he  had  been  dis- 
missed from  his  pastoral  charge.  Thus 
they  left  him  without  any  support,  or  so 


17*    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

much  as  paying  his  arrears,  so  that  from 
the  Idf  of  April,  1775.  to  this  day  he  has 
received  no  assistance  from  them.  They 
then  repaired  the  church,  which  had  been 
occupied  as  a  barrack  for  the  British 
army,  and  made  choice  of  a  new  pastor. 
In  May,  1777,  at  a  town-meeting  he  was 
mentioned  as  a  person  inimical  to  America ; 
a  warrant  was  served  and  bonds  given 
for  his  appearance  the  2°^  of  June,  for  a 
trial,  when  as  they  expressed  it,  'after  a 
candid  and  impartial  examination,'  he  was 
brought  in  Guilty,  confined  to  his  house 
and  land,  and  a  guard  placed  to  prevent 
the  visits  of  his  friends;  and  (except  the 
removal  of  the  guard,  which  was  in  about 
two  months)  in  this  confinement  has  he 
remained  ever  since;  and  had  it  not  been 
for  the  generous  assistance  of  his  benevolent 
friends  he  must  inevitably  have  suflFered."  " 
In  addition  to  the  somewhat  con- 
temptuous witticisms  in  the  presence  of 
his  judges  in  which  Doctor  Byles  is  re- 


TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  TOWN    17S 

ported  by  M^  Bailey  and  M'.  Eliot  to 
have  indulged,  we  have  the  following 
stories,  handed  down  by  tradition,  of  his 
humour  while  he  was  suflFering  political 
disgrace.    In  his  trial  before  the  justices 

of   the   peace   a   certain    Ebenezer  , 

commonly  known  as  "Ebby"  was  sum- 
moned to  give  evidence.  The  man  was 
probably  giving  his  testimony  in  too  low 
a  tone  for  the  doctor  to  hear,  when  sud- 
denly the  old  wit  leaning  forward,  with 
his  hand  to  his  ear  called  out:  "What 
does  that  Ebby-dunce  say?"  "Who  is 
that  man  in  uniform  before  your  house?" 
once  queried  some  one  of  the  doctor 
while  he  was  being  guarded  by  a  sentinel. 
"O,"  said  Doctor  Byles  quickly,  "that 
is  my  observe-a-Tory !"  One  warm  day 
during  his  imprisonment,  Byles  wanted 
some  cool  water  and  begged  the  sentinel 
to  go  to  the  well  and  get  some  for  him. 
At  first  the  soldier,  a  simple  fellow,  re- 
fused,  but  on   the    doctor's    telling  him 


-m 


174    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


that  he  himself  would  keep  guard,  the 
man  consented  to  go.  Doctor  Byles  then 
taking  the  man's  musket  put  it  on  his  own 
shoulder,  and  with  a  true  military  air  paced 
up  and  down  before  his  door  till  the  soldier 
returned.  As  we  have  said.  Doctor  Byles's 
guard  was  for  a  time  withdrawn,  then  re- 
placed, and  at  last  removed  altogether. 
Alluding-  to  this  fact;  the  witty  minister 
is  reported  to  have  said:  "I  have  been 
guarded,  re-guarded,  and  disregarded." 

General  Howe  with  his  troops  left  Boston 
on  the  IT^  of  March,  1776,  and  on  the  20^ 
General  Washington's  troops  came  in  over 
the  Neck.  Colonel  Henry  Knox,  afterward 
General  Knox,  who  had  previously  kept  a 
fashionable  book-store  in  Comhill  and  was 
extremely  well  known  to  Doctor  Byles,  was 
in  command  of  the  artillery,  and  he  had 
grown  very  stout."  At  some  point  on  their 
route  through  the  town  Doctor  Byles  was 
standing  on  the  sidewalk  watching  the 
troops  and  when  Knox  came  along  he  ex- 


TRIAL  BEFORE  TRE  TOWN    175 

claimed :  "I  never  saw  an  ox  fatter  in  my 
life  !"  When  Knox  was  told  of  the  pun  he 
is  said  to  have  remarked  that  Doctor  Byles 
was  "a  damned  fool." 

It   is    recorded    that   ona     before   the 
Revolution,  'he  doctor  created  almost  a 
panic  among  the  British  troops  by  report- 
ing that  on  the  fourteenth  of  June  forty 
thousand  men  would  rise  up  in  opposition 
to  them,  with  the  clergy  at  their  head. 
Doctor  Byles's  meaning  was  that  the  l**!" 
of  June  was  to  be  the  annual  New  Eng- 
land  Fast   Day,    when   political    sermons 
would  be  generally  preached  and  all  the 
grievances  of  the  colonies  against  England 
with    great    warmth    be  discussed.     "We 
smile,"  says  Rev.  George  L.  Chaney,  "at 
the   possibility   of   finding   anything   for- 
midable in  a  Fast-day  congregation,  but 
in  that  day,  in  this  Province,  it  meant, 
in   all   literalness,   an   army   of   two-score 
thousand    men,   headed    by   their   clergy, 
and  animated  with  the  dangerous  resolu- 


'it 


176    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER,  BYLES 

tion  to  defend  their  liberties."    From  the 
time  of  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1765,  to  the 
period  of  the  Revolution,  says  the  author  of 
"Dealings  with  the  Dead,"  the  cry  had  been 
repeated  "in  every  form  of  phraseology" 
that  Massachusetts'  grievances  should  be 
redressed.    In  October,  1768,  the  British 
Government  sent  two  Irish  regiments,  and 
a  detachment  of  trbops  from  Halifax  to 
the  assistance  of  Governor  Bernard ;  "  some- 
thing short  of  a  thousand  men,  in  red  coats, 
with  glittering  firelocks  charged  and  bayo- 
nets fixed,  marched  through  the  town,  with 
drums  beating  and  fifes  playing."    Doctor 
Byles  watching  the  new  forces  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  Massachusetts  had  sent  over 
to  England  to  obtain  a  redress  of  her  griev- 
ances, and  that  these  grievances  had  re- 
turned "red-dressed."    "True,  Sir,"  said  an 
acquainUnce  standing  near,  "but  you  have 
two  d's."    "To  be  sure,  I  have,"  quickly 
answered  the  Doctor,  "I  had  them  from 
Aberdeen  in  1765."  " 


CHAPTER  X 

Social  Staxding.    Friendships 
The  place  held  by  Mather  Byles  in  the 
social    life   of   Boston    in    the    Provincial 
period   was  distincUy  an   important  one. 
There  were  people  in  the  community  who 
disliked   him.   for   the   air   of   superiority 
he   seems   commonly   to   have   worn,   for 
the  combative  spirit  of  the  Mathers.  wUch 
he  had  inherited  to  a  certain  degree,  for 
the  sometimes  far  too  caustic  tone  of  his 
humour,  and  indeed,  it  is  quite  evident, 
for  the  humour  itself,  and  we  more  than 
suspect  from  the  preference  he  showed  in 
social  intercourse  for  men  of  po-ition  and 
influence,  but  there  were  few,  we  believe, 
who  would  have  ventured  to  question  his 
intellectual    superiority,    or    his    right    in 
the  caUlogue  of  locally  important  men  to 


f 


178    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

a  place  beside  the  scholarly  Doctor 
Thomas  Prince  of  the  Old  South,  Charies 
Chauncy,  Byles's  contemporary  through 
all  but  the  last  year  of  his  life,  Joseph 
Sewall,  Jonathan  Mayhew,  or  any  others 
of  the  most  eminent  preachers  and  writers 
of  Boston  or  the  lesser  New  England 
towns.  What  estimate  the  most  critical 
people  of  his  time  put  on  his  poetry  we 
do  not  know,  but  his  poems  as  a  young 
man  in  welcome  of  royal  governors,  and 
the  accession  and  death  of  monarchs,  and 
in  commemoration  of  local  men  and  women 
who  had  occupied  high  official  or  social 
stations  in  the  community,  must  have 
given  him  the  local  distinction  of  almost 
a  New  England  poet-laureate. 

The  exact  social  rank  Doctor  Byles 
had  in  Boston  to  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion we  may  without  much  difficulty  and 
with  a  good  deal  of  certainty  make  out. 
By  the  time  he  reached  manhood  the 
supremacy      of      the      famous     Mather 


I:  n 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FRIENDS    179 

dynasty  under  which  he  had  been  born 
had  passed,  his  grandfather  Increase,  "the 
most      powerful      individual      foroe      in 
America"  in  his  day,  and  his  stupendous 
uncle  Cotton,  having  died  within  less  than 
five   years   of   each   other,    the   latter   in 
February,    1728,    but    the    prestige    that 
these  eminent  relatives   had   for  so  long 
enjoyed  was  not  by  any  means  forgotten, 
and  Byles  could  not  have  failed  in  some 
measure    to    inherit    the    distinction    the 
Mathers  had  earned.    As  the  pastor  for 
over  forty  years  of  one  of  the  less  influen- 
tial churches  of  Boston  his  ecclesiastical 
iwsition   would   not  necessarily  have  en- 
titled him  to  the  social  consideration  he 
was  evidently  given,  but  at  the  outset  of 
his  mmisto^.  if  not  earlier,  he  came  into 
confidential  relations  with  the  rich  Gov- 
ernor Belcher,  whose  niece  he  soon  mar- 
ned,    and    his    friendly    intercourse    with 
royal  governors  did  not  cease  when  Belcher 
yielded  the  reins  of  government  to  Shirley 


180    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

or  indeed  probably  untU  G^je's  brief, 
.tormy  rule  came  to  an  end.  A»  the 
Stion  drew  on  he  identified  inm^l 

clowly   in   political   sympathy   w,Ui   the 
crown  official,   and   rich   merchant,   and 
leading  lawyers,  who  for  the  most  part 
were  Tories,  and  although  many  of  these 
were  staunch  supporters  "*  the  A.ghc.n 
Church  and  worshippers  at  King  s  Chapel, 
his  intercourse  with  them  must  necessanly 
have  been  exceedingly  friendly,  and  h.s 
^M  separation  from  the  less  »™toc«Uc 
Patriot  Congregational  famd.es  of  the  town 
correspondingly  great.        „,,,.,  ... 
The  Boston  of  Doctor  Byles's  WeUme. 
before  the  B«volution  drove  its  actoowl- 
edged  aristocracy  away,  was  much  hke  a 
flourishing   English   provincial   town.    In 
1760  it  had  about  twenty-five  thousand 
inhabiUnts  and  was  probably  the  larges  . 
and  certainly,  from  the  extent  o    its  for- 
eign  commerce,    the    amount    of   capita^ 
it  had  accumulated,  and  the  fact  that  it 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FRIENDS    181 

wu  the  central  point  and  chief  city  of 
the  most  compact  population  to  be  found 
on  the  American  seaboard,  the  most  im- 
portant town  in  the  new  world.  It  had 
many  wharves  from  which  vessels  were 
constantly  plying  to  other  parts  of 
America,  the  West  Indies,  Europe,  and 
the  Orient,  the  most  noted  of  these  of 
course  being  Long  Wharf,  Imed  with  ware- 
houses, from  which  busy  State  Street, 
then  King  Street,  led  to  near  the  centre 
of  the  town.  At  the  head  of  this  street 
was  the  Town  House,  where  the  govern- 
ment in  all  its  branches  met,  and  beneath 
which  some  of  the  well-known  merchants 
had  their  stores.  On  the  summit  of 
Beacon  Hill  stood  the  tall  beacon,  on 
cross-timbers,  resting  on  a  stone  founda- 
tion and  supported  by  braces.  The 
Common  was  a  huge  grassy  public  field, 
and  the  Mall,  which  led  along  the  eastern 
side  of  this  historic  inclosure,  from  Park 
Street  to  West  Street,  bordered  by  lux- 


182    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLE8 

uriant  trees,  the  first  of  which  were  planted 
between  1788  and  1789,  waa  the  fashion- 
able   promenade.    On    Tremont,    School, 
Beacon,    and    Washington    streeU    were 
"mansions"  of  considerable  size  and  ele- 
gance,   whose    owners    lived    luxuriously, 
some  of  them  indeed  in  what  local  his- 
torians are  accustomed  to  call  "princely 
style."    One  of  the  most  conspicuous  of 
these  mansions  was  the  fine  brick  house 
on  Tremont  Street  built  by  Peter  Faneuil, 
the   richest  Bostonian   of   his   day,   who 
died  in  1742,  shortly  after  having  made 
his   gift   of   Faneuil   Hall   to   the   town. 
There,  to  the  time  of  his  death,  Faneuil 
lived  elegantly,  with  slaves,  an  abundance 
of  heavy  plate,  and  a  cellar  stocked  with 
wines.    At   the    time    of    the   Revolution 
the  house  was  owned  by  John  Vassall  of 
Cambridge,  who  probably  lived  in  it  in 
winter,    but    Vassall,    an    aristocrat    and 
staunch  Tory,  was  proscribed  and  ban- 
ished, and  the  Faneuil  house  like  his  other 


SOCUL  STANDING.    FRIENDS    IBS 

propertiea  wu  confiscated  ud  thereafter 
wa«  occupied  by  humbler  folk.    On  Beacon 
Street,  a  little  to  the  westward   of   the 
SUte  House  grounds,  stood  Thomas  Han- 
cock's house,  one  of  the  "noblest  private 
mansions"  in  Boston,  built  b  1787,  which 
in   time  passed   to  John   Hancock,   wuo 
alone  of  the  merchant-aristocraU  of  Bos- 
ton, for  one  reason  or  another,  did  not 
give   his   sympathy   to   the   royal    cause. 
The  estate  that  had  originally  belonged 
to  Rev.  John  Cotton,  on  Tremont  Street, 
a  little  to  the  north  of  Peter  Fantuil's, 
was  owned  at  the  Revolution  by  William 
Vassall,   while   Richard   Clarke,   Copley's 
father-in-law.  who  with  Joshua  Winslow, 
Benjamin   Faneuil,   Jr..   and   Elisha   and 
Thomas  Hutchinson,  was  a  consignee  of 
the  tea  that  was  thrown  into  the  harbour, 
lived    on    School    Street,    a    litUe    below 
where  the  Parker  House  stands  now.    Of 
other  men  of  prominence.  William  Phillips 
lived  in  the  house  built  by  his  father-in- 


184    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

law,  Edward  Bromfield,  on  Beacon  Street, 
almost  opposite  the  Atheneeum;  James 
Bowdoin  had  a  house,  which  almost 
rivalled  the  Bromfield-Phillips  house  "in 
solidity  and  elegance,"  a  little  to  the  west 
of  this  house;  Gilbert  De  Blois  had  a 
house  on  Tremont  Street,  at  the  comer 
of  Bromfield  Street;  Judge  Robert 
Auchmuty,  Jr.,  when  the  Revolution  be- 
gan lived  in  School  Street;  Jonathan 
Snelling  lived  in  Hanover  Street;  Harri- 
son Gray  lived  probably  on  Washington 
Street,  north  of  State  Street;  while  Gov- 
ernor Thomas  Hutchinson,  and  before  his 
death  Sir  Charles  Henry  Frankland,  as 
b  well  known,  lived  in  the  extreme  North 
End."  One  of  Doctor  Byles's  intimate 
friends  was  John  Singleton  Copley,  whose 
estate  of  eleven  acres,  the  largest  at  the 
time  in  Boston,  lay  on  the  southwest 
side  of  Beacon  Hill,  between  Beacon  and 
Pinckney,  and  Walnut  and  Charles  streets. 
His  house  of  two  stories  was  of  wood. 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FKlENDR    185 

and  possibly  not  a  ver,-  handsom ;  one, 
but  in  it  he  painted  some  ot  hla  most 
noted  portraits,  and  received  visitors,  clad 
magnificently  in  a  crimson  velvet,  gold- 
laced  suit,  his  income  of  three  hundred 
guineas  a  year  enabling  him  to  live  in  a 
style  befitting  his  position  as  Boston's 
most  eminent  "court-painter." 

Another  warm  friend  of  Doctor  Byles 
for  many  years  was  a  Boston  bom  man, 
slightly  older  than  himself,  who,  however, 
early  separated  himself  from  the  town  of 
his  nativity,  and  in  the  great  Revolution- 
ary struggle  sympathized  with  and  cham- 
pioned not  the  royalist  party  to  which 
Doctor  Byles  belonged,  but  the  Patriots, 
whose  actions  this  ardent  upholder  of 
British  supremacy  in  New  England  cor- 
dially hated  and  scorned.  This  friend  of 
Doctor  Byles's  was  no  less  a  person  than 
Doctor  Benjamin  Franklin,"  with  whom, 
although  his  early  associations  in  Boston 
were  somewhat  different  from  Franklin's, 


a..!. 


\y'  iS 


186    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

as  a  boy  and  young  man  he  probably  had 
some  little  acquaintance.  Just  how  this 
acquaintance  really  started  we  do  not 
know,  but  it  is  evident  that  it  began  at 
an  early  age,  and  that  the  two  men 
throughout  their  whole  lives,  though  their 
correspondence  was  infrequent,  never  quite 
lost  interest  in  each  other's  affairs.  In 
an  earlier  chapter  we  have  spoken  of  the 
fierce  controversy  on  the  subject  of  in- 
oculation between  the  Mathers  and  James 
Franklin,  which  occurred  while  Byles  was 
a  student  at  Harvard,  and  of  the  con- 
temptuous way  in  which  the  militant 
editor  and  the  combative  young  freshman 
spoke  of  each  other  in  print.  About  a 
year  later  than  this,  for  a  statement  he 
had  made  in  his  paper,  the  New-England 
Courant,  which  was  regarded  as  a  serious 
affront  to  the  authorities,  James  Franklin 
was  imprisoned  for  a  month,  and  when 
he  was  released  he  was  forbidden  to  print 
anything  that  was  not  first  rigidly  cen- 


St 

it 


Db.  benjamin  franklin 

From  an  eiigra\'ing  by  T.  B.  Welch 


11 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FRIENDS    187 


sored  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Province  or 
some  one  whom  he  should  appoint.  For 
some  time  previously  Benjamin  Franklin 
had  been  his  brother's  apprentice,  and 
on  James's  release  from  prison  the  latter 
made  Benjamin  nominal  editor  of  the 
paper.  Although  Benjamin  Franklin  to 
this  time  had  been  merely  an  apprentice, 
his  formal  assumption  of  the  editorship 
of  the  Courant  must  now  have  made  him 
somewhat  known  in  the  community,  and 
before  he  left  Boston  for  Philadelphia, 
which  he  did,  however,  long  before  his 
name  as  editor  disappeared  from  the 
Courant,  it  is  far  from  unlikely  that  Byles 
and  he  had  occasionally  met.**  That  they 
somehow  became  early  acquainted  is  shown 
by  an  interesting  correspondence  between 
them  that  from  various  sources  we  have 
recently  been  able  to  gather  up.  From 
Benjamin  Franklin's  obscure  editorship  of 
the  Courant,  to  the  distinguished  public 
position  he  held  in  his  later  years,  is  in- 


188    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

deed  a  far  cry,  but  from  the  letters  to 
which  we  refer  it  is  evident  that  amidst 
all  the  activit'es  of  his  busy  life  and  the 
great  honours  that  came  upon  him  at 
home  and  abroad  he  never  lost  his  friend- 
ship or  a  certain  spirit  of  deference  for 
the  grandson  of  Increase  Mather,  whom 
he  had  known  more  or  less  distantly  in 
early  life.' 

In  the  old  letter-book  of  Doctor  Byles's 
now  owned  by  the  New  England  Historic 
Genealogical  Society,  several  letters  from 
which  we  have  been  permitted  to  use,  we 
find,  undated,  the  following  epistle,  which 
must,  however,  have  been  written  not  long 
after  Byles  received  his  doctorate  from  the 
University  of  Aberdeen: 


"To  THE  HoNOtmABLE 

"D?  Benjamin  Franklin 

"London. 
"Sm; 

"It  was  with  great  Surprize  and  Pleasure, 

that  I  received  your  Picture  from  Philadelphia. 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FRIENDS    189 


And  it  u  with  no  little  Pride,  that  when  the 
Picture  introduces  talk  of  the  Original,  a  Theme 
always  pleasing  to  the  Lovers  of  Learning,  that 
I  can  pronounce  'This  was  sent  me  by  Df 
Franklin  himself.' 

"But  my  Ambition  has  been  strangely  aug- 
mented by  a  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  London, 
written  by  you  to  some  tmknown  Person,  in 
which  you  Honour  me  with  a  Character  so  far 
beyond  any  Merits  of  mine  that  I  blush  to  read. 
It  was  the  utmost  wish  of  one  to  be  known  only 
by  the  Title  of  'Sir  Phillip  Sidney's  Friend.' 
I  can  boast,  and  point  to  yoiir  own  Hand  to 
prove  it,  that  I  have  been  at  least  Jy.  Frank- 
lin't  long  Acquaintance.  I  had  not  the  least 
Apprehension  that  any  Foreign  Honours  were 
design'd  me,  till  I  was  informed  of  it  by  a  Letter 
from  your  side  of  the  Water ;  and  received  this 
Transcript  of  your  Friendship.  My  Uttle  offer- 
ing of  gratitude  will  make  no  perceptible 
Addition  to  the  Acknowledgements  universally 
paid  you  by  the  whole  World  of  literature  and 
Science. 

"I  should  be  exceedingly  glad.  Sir,  if  you 
could  be  prevail'd  on  to  furnish  me  with  a 
catalogue  of  your  Publications.    Those  of  thesi 


r" 


i 

i'i- 
f 

■1* 


I 


190    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

that  I  am  possess'd  of  are  some  of  the  most 
Agreeable  Ornaments  of  my  Library. 

"Whatever  Title  my  partial  Friends  may 
honour  me  with,  none  can  more  delight  me 
than  that  of 

"Dear  Sir, 

"Your  most  Affectionate  Friend 
"and  oblig^ 

"humble  Servant, 

[Mathi»  Btles] 

"The  young  Gentleman  who  brings  you  this, 
M^  Edward  Church,  is  a  Son  of  one  of  my 
Deacons.  He  has  had  a  Uberal  Education  in 
our  college,  but  now  visits  London  on  affairs  of 
merchandize.  He  will  be  pleased  to  see  the 
Doctor  he  has  read  so  much  of. 

"Shall  I  ask  the  Favour  of  you  to  forward  the 
enclosed  to  Aberdeen  with  as  little  Expense  as 
may  be. 

"I  have  just  been  reading  a  beautiful  Letter 
of  yours,  written  Feb.  22,  1756,  tin  the  Death 
of  your  Brother,  which  is  handed  about  among 
us  in  Manuscript  Copies.  I  am  charmed  with 
the  Easy  and  Gay  Light  in  which  you  view  our 
Leaving  this  Little  Earth,  as  Birds  among  the 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FRT'JNDS    191 


Immortals:  and  as  setting  out  on  a  party  of 
pleasure  a  little  before  our  Fi)eiids  are  ready. 
The  Superstition  with  which  we  Seize  and  pre- 
serve little  accidental  Touches  of  your  pen, 
puts  one  in  mind  of  the  care  of  the  bishop  to 
collect  the  Jugs  and  Galipots  with  the  paintings 
of  Raphael." 

On  the  14*  of  May,  1787,  Doctor  Byles 
wrote  Franklin  again : 
"Sir, 

"It  is  long  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  writing 
to  you  by  M^  Edward  Church,  to  thank  you 
for  your  friendly  mention  of  me  in  a  letter  that 
I  find  was  transmitted  to  the  University  of 
Aberdeen.  I  doubt  whether  you  ever  received  it, 
under  great  weakness  by  old  ii„'e  and  a  palsy,  I 
seize  this  opportunity  of  employing  my  daughter 
to  repeat  the  thanks  which  I  aimed  to  express  in 
that  letter.  Your  Excellency  is  now  the  man 
that  I  early  expected  to  see  you.  I  congratulate 
my  country  upon  her  having  produced  a  Frank- 
lin, and  can  only  add,  I  wish  to  meet  you  where 
complete  feUcity  and  we  shall  be  for  ever  united. 
I  am  my  dear  and  early  friend  your  most  affec- 
tionate and  humble  servant,        ,,11,   „ 

"M.  Btles. 


192    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

"P.S.  I  refer  you  to  the  bearer,  M-  Pier- 
pont,  to  inform  you  how  my  life,  and  that  of 
my  daughters,  have  I  -tea  saved  by  your  poinU." 

The  letter  of  Franklin's  to  the  Principal 
of  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  written  from 
Franklin's  residence  in  Craven  Street,  Lon- 
don, for  which  Doctpr  Byles  was  so  grate- 
ful, was  indeed  »  flattering  letter.  It  is 
dated  July  «,  176*,  and  is  as  follows : 

"Sib,  ,., 

"I  have  been  acquainted  many  years  with 
the  Rev.  M^  Mather  Byles,  of  whom  you  tell 
me  some  account  is  desired.  He  is  a  native  of 
New  England,  descended  of  the  ancient  Mather 
Family,  of  which  there  have  been  two  Doctors 
in  Divinity,  both  famous  in  that  Country  for 
their  learning  and  piety.  Viz.  Doctor  Increase 
Mather  and  Doctor  Cotton  Mather ;  the  former 
president  of  Harvard  College  at  Cambridge. 
This  Mr.  Byles  was  educated  at  that  College, 
where  he  distinguished  himself  by  a  dose  and 
successftil  application  to  his  studies ;  with  the 
usual  degrees ;  and  is  now  one  of  ite  Visitors  or 
Superintendents.    He  is  pastor  of  a  Congre- 


SOCIAL  STANDING.    FRIENDS    19S 

gational  Church  in  Boiton,  the  Capital  of  New 
England.  The  principles  or  doctrines  of  thoae 
Churches  are  the  same  with  those  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  except  what  relates  to 
Church  Government.  He  is  a  gentleman  of 
superior  parts  and  learning;  an  eloquent 
preacher  and  on  many  accounts  an  honour  to 
his  Country. 
"I  am  Sir  your  most  humble  Servant 

"B.  Franklin." 


In  reply  to  Doctor  Byles's  letter  of 
May  14,  1787,  Doctor  Franklin  wrote  the 
aged  minister : 

"Phil*  June  1,  1788. 
"Dbab  Oua  Friend, 

"I  duly  received  your  kind  Letter  of  May  14, 
87.  I  was  then  busily  engag'd  in  attending 
our  General  Convention,  which,  added  to  the 
ordinary  current  Business  of  this  Government, 
took  up  so  much  of  my  Time,  that  I  was  oblig'd 
to  postpone  answering  many  Letters  of  Friends 
which  gave  occasion  of  my  mislaying  some  of 
them,  &  among  those  was  yours,  only  last 
Week  come  again  to  hand.    I  think  I  never 


194    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


I 
I  si 


Kceiv'd  what  you  mention  reipecting  the  Uni- 
venity  of  Aberdeen,  but  the  Good  will  I  might 
ihow  on  that  Occaiion  was  not  of  Importance 
enough  to  deserve  your  repeating  the  Acknowl- 
edgement. It  was  in  me  only  paying  a  Debt; 
for  I  remember  with  Gratitude,  that  I  owe  one 
of  my  first  Academical  Honours  to  your  Recom- 
mendation. It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to 
understand  that  my  Points  have  been  of 
Service  in  the  Protection  of  you  and  yours.  I 
wish  for  your  sake,  that  Electricity  had  really 
prov'd  what  it  was  at  first  suppos'd  to  be,  a 
Cure  for  the  palsy.  It  is  however  happy  for 
you,  that  when  Old  Age  and  that  Malady  have 
concurr'd  to  infeeble  you,  and  to  disable  you 
for  Writing,  you  have  a  Daughter  at  hand  to 
nurse  you  with  JUi4il  attention,  and  to  be  your 
Secretary,  of  which  I  see  she  is  very  Capable, 
by  the  Elegance  and  Correctness  of  her  Writing 
in  the  Letter  I  am  answering.  I  too  have  a 
Daughter,  who  lives  with  me  and  is  the  Com- 
fort of  my  declining  Years,  while  my  Son  is 
estrang'd  from  me  by  the  Part  he  took  in  the 
late  War,  and  keeps  aloof,  residing  in  England, 
whose  Cause  he  espous'd;  whereby  the  old 
Proverb  is  exemplified : 


SOCUL  STANDING.    FRIENDS      194 

'"My  Son    u   my  Son  till  he  Uke  him  a 

Wife, 
But  my  Dau^ter's  my  Daughter  all  Dayt  of 

her  Life.' 

"I  remember  you  had  a  little  Collection  of 
Curiosities.  Please  to  honour  with  a  Place  in  it 
the  inclosed  Medal,  which  I  got  struck  in  Paris. 
The  Thought  was  much  approv'd  by  the  Con- 
noiseurs  there,  and  the  Engraving  well  executed. 
My  best  Wishes  attend  you,  being  ever  your 
affectionate  Friend  and  humble  Servant 

"B.  Fkanklin."" 

Eight  years  before  this  letter  of  Frank- 
lin's was  written  from  Philadelphia,  Doctor 
Byles  had  given  his  grandson,  Mather 
Brown,  on  going  to  England,  a  letter  to 
Doctor  Franklin,  and  as  we  shall  see  in  a 
later  chapter,  Franklin  treated  the  young 
painter  with  great  cordiality,  and  intro- 
duced him  "at  Versailles  as  being  grand- 
son to  one  of  his  most  particular  friends  in 
America." 


h  '    I 


CHAPTER  XI 

Last  Yeabs 

Or  Doctor  Byles's  life  after  the  Revolu- 
tion there  is  comparatively  little  to  say. 
A  lonely  figure  the  old  minister  must  have 
been  as  he  went  silently  about  the  town, 
his  friends  among  the  crown  officials  and 
rich  merchants  far  away,  in  England  or  in 
Nova  Scotia,  his  son  Mather  also  an  exile 
in  Halifax,  his  former  parishioners  passing 
him  with  averted  eyes,  and  every  promi- 
nent minister  of  his  denomination,  as  indeed 
the  town  and  state  authorities  and  the 
new  occupants  of  the  confiscated  houses 
of  the  proscribed  Loyalists,  regarding  him 
as  a  traitor  to  the  liberties  of  the  people 
and  returning  with  interest  the  scorn  he 
had  earlier  visited  on  the  champions  of  the 
popular  cause.    Under  the  most  depressing 

IM 


!    I 


Dr.  MATHER  BYLES 

From  the  uriginal  painting  by  Copley,  1707 


il 
II      \ 


LAST  YEABS 


197 


circumstances,  however,  his  wit  never  for- 
sook him.  In  1780  he  gave  his  grandson, 
Mather  Brown,  a  letter  to  his  old  friend 
Copley  in  England,  which  presumably  in 
reference  to  Copley's  exalted  position 
abroad  he  addressed  "To  Mr.  Copley  in 
the  Solar  System."  For  many  years  Doc- 
tor Samuel  Cooper  of  the  church  in  Brattle 
Square  had  been  a  fellow-minister  with 
him  in  Boston  and  of  course  after  the 
Revolution  that  notably  patriotic  and 
highly  eloquent  divine  had  little  friendly 
feeling  toward  the  ex-minister  of  Hollis 
Street.  In  his  walks  out  of  town  Doctor 
Cooper  frequently  passed  Doctor  Byles's 
house,  but  never  deigned  to  call.  One 
day  Doctor  Byles  met  Doctor  Cooper 
and  said  to  him:  "Doctor  Cooper,  you 
treat  me  just  like  a  baby  I"  "I  hardly 
take  you,  Sir,"  the  Brattle  Square  min- 
ister with  becoming  dignity  replied. 
"Why,"  said  the  humorous  Byles,  "you 
go  by,  by,  by  I"    On  the  occurrence.  May 


I 


« 


198    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

19,  1780.  of  what  was  long  known  in 
Boston  as  "the  dark  day,"  a  lady  in  alarm 
sent  her  young  son  to  the  doctor  to  know 
if  he  could  explain  the  terrifying  phenom- 
enon. "My  dear."  said  Doctor  Byles. 
"tell  your  mother  I  am  as  much  in  the 
dark  as  she  is."  "This  for  sententious 
brevity,"  says  the  author  of  Dealings  wUh 
the  Deed,  "has  nevw  been  surpassed,  un- 
less by  the  correspondence  between  the 
comedian,  Sam  Foote,  and  his  mother  — 
'Dear  Sam,  I'm  in  jail';  'Dear  Mother, 
so  am  I.'" 

Some  time  in  1783,  Doctor  Byles  was 
seized  with  paralysis,  and  from  that  time 
until  his  death,  some  five  years  later,  was 
a  confirmed  and  gradually  faUing  mvaUd. 
We  have  before  spoken  of  the  frequent 
notices  of  him  in  the  correspondence  of 
Doctor  Jeremy  Belknap,  who  was  his 
great-nephew,  Belknap's  mother  having 
been  a  daughter  of  one  of  Doctor  Byles's 
elder  half-brothers.'"    In  a  letter  to  Ebe- 


LAST  YEABS 


199 


nezer  Hazard  of  the  IS*!*  of  December, 
1783,  Doctor  Belknap  says;  "It  is  not 
usual  with  me  to  entertain  you  with  an 
account  of  my  bodily  ails  and  complaints, 
but  the  situation  I  am  now  reduced  to  by 
an  unlucky  strain  in  my  hip  bears  so  near 
a  resemblance  to  the  state  in  which  I 
lately  found  my  punning  uncle.  Dr.  Byles 
(who  by  the  way,  is  the  only  surviving 
brother  of  Thomas  Byles,  late  of  Phila- 
delphia, deceased)  that  I  mention  it  for 
the  sake  of  telling  you  one  of  his  stories; 
and  that  I  may  give  you  a  true  idea 
of  the  man  I  will  endeavour  to  relate  it 
with  its  attendant  circumstances.  He  is 
seventy-eight  years  old,  and  usually  sits 
in  an  easy  chair  which  has  a  back  himg 
on  hinges.  In  such  a  chair  I  found  him 
sitting,  and  as  I  approached  him  he  held 
out  his  hand.  'You  must  excuse  my  not 
getting  up  to  receive  you,  cousin;  for 
I  am  not  one  of  the  rising  generation.'" 
Doctor  Byles  then  went  on  to  say.  Doctor 


200    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

Belknap  says,  that  he  had  the  same  disease 
a  good  man  he  had  once  heard  of  had 
gone  to  his  pastor,  the  Rev.  M^  Willard, 
to  complain  of.  W  Willard  was  very 
fond  of  using  scholastic  terms  and  in  a 
sermon  shortly  before  had  used  the  word 
synecdoche.  Some  one  had  told  the  man 
he  had  sciatica,  and  this  word  was  so  like 
synecdoche  that  the  man  felt  sure  the 
parson  had  used  "sciatica"  in  his  sermon 
and  told  him  so.  "I  have,"  he  said,  "a 
disease  the  name  of  which  you  mentioned 
in  your  sermon  on  such  a  day.  I  cannot 
remember  the  word  but  it  begins  with 
«.  M?  Willard  looked  over  his  notes 
and  found  synecdoche,  and  the  man  said, 
"Yes,  that's  it,  I  have  synecdoche  in  my 

hip!" 

In  the  great  fire  that  raged  in  the  south 
part  of  Boston  in  April,  1787,  laying  waste 
much  of  the  region  about  Hollis  Street, 
and  burning  the  church.  Doctor  Byles's 
house  was  in  so  great  danger  that  his 


LAST  YEARS 


201 


hoard  of  books,  papers,  prints,  instru- 
ments, and  most  of  his  household  goods, 
were  dislodged  from  their  nearly  fifty 
years'  repose  and  thrown  out  in  chaotic 
confusion  in  an  adjoining  green  field. 
Doctor  Byles  was  taken  for  the  night  to 
some  hospitable  house  near  by,  but  was 
able  to  return  to  his  own  house  the  next 
day;"  One  of  the  latest  glimpses  we  get 
of  the  old  minister's  mind  is  in  the  letter 
he  dictated  to  Doctor  Franklin  on  the 
14^  of  May,  1787,  which  we  have  given 
at  length  on  an  earlier  page. 

It  seems  probable  that  after  his  dis- 
missal from  his  church.  Doctor  Byles, 
while  he  was  able  to  walk,  more  or  less 
regularly  worshipped  with  his  daughters 
at  Trinity  Church.  It  b  doubtful  if  he 
ever  again  entered  a  church  of  his  own 
denomination.  While,  as  we  have  said, 
he  never  so  far  as  is  recorded  showed  any 
wish  to  enter  the  ministry  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  as  his  son  Mather,  Jr.,  had  long 


u 


202    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

before  done,  he  could  not  have  had  any 
great  dislike  for  the  Prayer  Book  wor- 
ship, and  his  friendship  with  Rev.  Samuel 
Parker,  Rector  of  Trinity,  furnishes  a 
presumption  that  he  was  more  or  less 
frequently  seen  at  that  Church.  On  the 
S^  of  July,  1788,  he  died,  and  Doctor 
Sprague  in  his  "Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit"  says  that '  Rev.  Samuel  Parker 
(afterwards  Bishop  Parker)  was  at  his 
bedside  shortly  before  the  end  came. 
Probably  in  allusion  to  friendly  con- 
troversies the  two  had  had  on  the  subject 
of  a  threefold  miuistry.  Doctor  Byles  in 
an  almost  inaudible  voice  said  to  his  friend 
as  he  bent  over  him:  "I  have  almost  got 
to  that  world  where  there  are  no  bishops  I" 
"I  hoped.  Doctor,"  said  Mr.  Parker  kindly, 
"that  you  were  going  to  the  Shepherd 
and  Bishop  of  Souls."  The  Massachu- 
letts  Centinel  of  Wednesday,  July  9,  1788, 
says  briefly:  "Died  on  Saturday  last, 
the   Reverend   Doctor   Byles,   aged   81." 


LAST  YEARS 


20S 


The  body  of  the  aged  divine  waa  laid  to 
rest  in  tomb  No.  S  in  the  Granaiy 
Burying  Ground,  but  whether  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Parker  performed  the  burial  service  or 
not  we  cannot  tell." 

July  17,  1788,  Ebenezer  Hazard  writes 
Doctor  Belknap  facetiously:  "So  the  old 
Doctor  has  left  off  punning  at  last.  What 
must  the  grave  spirits  in  heaven  think  on 
the  approach  of  so  ludicrous  an  one  as 
his."  "  September  14,  1790,  Doctor  Bel- 
knap writes  Hazard:  "I  add  for  your 
amusement  and  for  a  laugh  among  a  few 
friends,  a  number  of  articles  found  in  the 
house  of  the  late  D^  Byles."  These  he 
enumerates  as,  five  or  six  dozen  pairs  of 
spectacles,  "of  all  powers  and  all  fash- 
ions"; more  than  twenty  walking  sticks, 
"of  different  sizes  and  contrivances,"  about 
a  dozen  jest-books,  several  packs  of  cards, 
"new  and  clean,"  a  quantity  of  whetstones, 
bones,  etc.,  "as  much  as  a  man  could 
carry  in  a  bushel  basket  on  his  shoulder," 


M4  THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

a  large  number  of  weights  for  shopi, 
money-scales,  etc.,  "some  in  sets,  and 
some  broken,"  a  large  collection  of  pic- 
tures from  Hogarth's  celebrated  prints, 
"down  to  the  comers  of  newspapers  and 
pieces  of  linen."  He  says  also  there  was 
a  large  parcel  of  coins,  "from  Tiberius 
Caesar  to  Massachu^tts  cents,"  a  parcel 
of  children's  toys, — among  these  two  bags 
of  marbles,  a  quantity  of  Tom  Thumb 
books  and  puerile  histories, — about  a  dozen 
bird-cages  and  rat-traps,  a  set  of  gardeners' 
tools  and  one  of  carpenters'  tools,  a  parcel 
of  speaking-trumpets  and  hearing  tubes, 
with  many  other  things.  The  miscellaneous 
character  of  Doctor  Byles's  accumulations 
during  his  lifetime,  which  caused  Doctor  Bel- 
knap so  much  amusement,  is  fully  borne 
out  by  'the  recorded  inventory  of  Byles's 
estate. 


CHAPTER  Xn 
The  Btlbb  Family 

By  his  first  wife,  as  we  have  said,  Doctor 
Byles  had  six  children,  three  of  whom, 
Mather.  Jr.,  Elizabeth,  and  Samuel,  lived 
to  grow  up;  by  his  second  wife  he  had 
three,  two  of  whom  only,  the  Misses 
Mary  and  Catherine  lived  to  maturity. 
Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Boston 
January  twelfth,  17S4,"  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1751.  Six  years 
later  he  formally  entered  the  Congrega- 
tional ministry  at  New  London.  Connecti- 
cut, over  the  church  in  which  town  he 
remained  for  between  ten  and  eleven  years. 
At  his  ordination  his  father  preached  the 
sermon  and  gave  the  charge,  and  a  very 
impressive  and  serious  sermon  and  charge 
these  efforts  of  the  older  Mather  Byles 


206    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


I 


illf! 


were.  The  sermon  as  printed  is  entitled 
"The  man  of  God  thoroughly  furnished 
to  every  good  work,"  and  it  is  a  strong 
and  earnest  presentation  of  the  minister's 
duty  and  opportunity.  To  his  first  minis- 
terial charge  the  youthful  Byles  brought 
the  prestige  of  his  distinguished  Mather 
descent,  his  father's  ecclesiastical,  social, 
and  literary  importance,  and  his  own  edu- 
cation and  brilliant  promise,  and  naturally 
he  at  once  became  a  great  favourite  in 
the  Connecticut  town.  The  chief  cause 
of  discomfort  to  him  in)  New  London  for 
a  long  time  was  the  presence  there  of  an 
obscure  Sabbatarian  sect  known  as  the 
Rogerenes,  with  which  people  he  soon 
began  a  violent  controversy,  chiefly  on 
the  question  of  the  special  day  that  should 
be  observed  as  the  day  of  rest.  We  have 
a  portrait  of  the  younger  Byles  taken, 
it  would  seem,  soon  after  the  Revolution, 
when  he  was  about  forty-five  years  old, 
which  shows  him,  as  he  was,  a  man  of 


Dr.   MATHER  BYLES.  Jr. 

Frum  the  uriginal  pumting 


i 


'n 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY 


807 


somewhat  delicate  mould,  probably  smaller 
than  his  father,  with  a  nervous,  excitable 
face,  rather  thin  lips,  firmly  pressed  to- 
gether, and  the  unmistakable  look  and 
pose  of  an  aristocratic  feeling  man.  On 
the  Hi'  of  May,  1761,  Byles  married  at 
Roxbuiy,  Massachusetts,  his  second  cousin, 
Rebecca  Walter,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Walter  of  that  place,  whose 
older  sbter  Sarah  x  tis  married  to  Sir 
Robert  Hazelrigg,  a  Leicestershire  bar- 
onet, and  whose  brother  William  when  a 
few  years  out  of  Harvard  embraced  Epis- 
copacy, went  to  London  for  ordination, 
and  a  little  later  became  Rector  of  Boston's 
Trinity  Church, 

It  is  not  to  any  one  di£Scult  in  these  days 
to  see  why  the  younger  Mather  Byles  should 
not  have  remained  always  a  Congregation- 
alist.  He  had  in  Boston  probably  asso- 
ciated almost  as  much  with  Episcopalians 
as  with  Congregationalists,  and  he  was  the 
sort  of  man  to  whom  a  classical  liturgy  and 


i 
I 

d 


208    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

dignified  ecclesiastical  ceremonial  would 
naturally  strongly  appeal.  For  the  last 
three  years  of  his  New  London  pastorate 
he  was,  he  says,  at  heart  virtually  an 
Episcopalian,  and  at  length  in  April,  1768, 
he  formally  so  declared  himself  to  the 
people  of  his  charge.  In  some  way  his 
change  of  feeling  had  become  known  in 
Boston,  and  suddenly,  quite  unexpectedly 
to  him,  he  announced,  the  wardens  and 
vestry  of  Christ  Church  had  given  him 
an  invitation  to  become  their  Rector  in- 
stead of  minister  of  the  New  London 
Congregational  Church.  His  statement  of 
this  fact  and  of  his  wish  immediately  to 
sever  his  connection  with  the  Congregation- 
alists  was  received  by  his  church  with 
profound  amazement  and  disgust.  The 
people  at  first  strongly  remonstrated  with 
him,  but  when  they  found  that  his  mind 
was  made  up,  they  bitterly  denounced 
and  mercilessly  ridiculed  him,  and  on 
their  church  book  recorded  angrily  that 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY         209 

"the  Rev.  Mather  Byles  had  dismul  him- 
te{f  from  the  congregation."  To  the 
moment  of  his  resignation  of  his  pastorate 
his  popularity  had  been  general,  but  now 
in  the  streets  could  be  heard  a  wretched 
doggerel  song  on  his  conversion,  called 
"The  Proselyte,"  sung  to  the  tune  of  the 
"Thief  and  Cordelier,"  while  into  general 
circulation  from  some  local  press  came  a 
"Wonderful  Dream,"  in  which  the  spirit 
of  the  venerable  Richard  Mather  was 
introduced  rpbuking  his  great-grandson  for 
his  degenerate  apostasy  from  the  Puritan 
faith.  On  his  part  M'-  Byles  regarded 
the  call  from  Christ  Church  as  "mani- 
festly a  call  of  Providence  inviting  him  to 
a  greater  sphere  of  usefulness,  and  plainly 
pointing  out  to  him  the  path  of  duty," 
and  at  once  he  left  New  London  for 
Boston,  thence  sailing  for  England,  to  be 
reorJained  a  priest  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
In  Episcopal  Orders  he  soon  came  back 
to  his  native  town  and  began  his  pastorate 


«10    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

in  Boston   as   Rector  of  Christ  Church, 
and  in  this  rectorship  he  remained  until 
the  18*  of  April,  1776.    On  that  day  he 
formally  resigned  this  charge,  his  resigna- 
tion probably  being  due  largely  to  the 
fact   that    his   royalist    sympathies    had 
become  too  pronounced  to  allow  him  to 
remain   with   a  people,   the  majority  of 
whom  desired  sepaktion  from  the  British 
empire.    The  excuse  he  gave  for  resigning, 
however,  was  that  he  had  received  a  call 
from  St.  John's  Church,  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire,  to  become  Rector  there.    To 
the  Portsmouth  church  for  some  reason  he 
did  not  go,  but  when  Howe's  fleet  sailed 
from  Boston  in  March,  1776,  he  with  his 
children,   in  company  with  his   brother- 
in-law,  WiUiam  Walter,  Rector  of  Trinity, 
and  tie  Rev.   Doctor  Caner,  Rector  of 
King's  Chapel,  went  with  the  great  body 
of  Boston  Tories  to  Halifax,  and  there 
was    soon   appointed,    assistant   to   Rev. 
Doctor   Breynton,  Rector   of   St.   Paul's 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY 


211 


Church,  and  chaplain  to  the  British  troops. 
In  May,  1789,  he  removed  to  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  in  that  town  assuming 
the  rectorship  of  Trinity  Church,  and  as 
in  Halifax,  the  garrison  chaplaincy  as 
well. 

Rev.  Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  took  his  mas- 
ter's degree  at  Harvard,  in  course,  in  1754, 
and  from  Yale  College  received  a  similar 
degree  in  1757.  In  1770  the  University 
of  Oxford  conferred  on  him  a  doctorate  in 
divinity.  He  married  three  times,  first 
as  we  have  said  his  second  cousin,  Bebecca 
Walter,  second,  in  Halifax,  another  second 
cousin,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Byfield  Lyde, 
third,  also  in  HaUfax,  the  widow  of  an 
officer,  M?  Susanna  Beid.  By  his  first 
wife  Rebecca,  who  died  a  little  over  four 
months  before  he  left  Boston  for  Halifax, 
he  had  nine  children,  by  his  second  wife 
four,  and  from  him,  in  later  generations, 
not  a  few  important  people  in  the  British 
Colonies  have  been  descended.    For  the 


«1«    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

most   part,    however,    these   have   borne 
other  names  than  Byles." 

Of  the  tender  relations  that  always 
existed  between  Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  and  his 
father  we  gain  sufficient  idea  from  one  of  the 
last  letters  that  the  aged  Hollis  Street  min- 
ister ever  wrote.  On  the  24^  of  February, 
1787,  M"?  Sarah  Lyde  Byles  died  in  Halifax, 
and  the  14*^  of  the  following  April  the  senior 
Doctor  Byles  by  the  hand  of  one  of  his 
daughters  wrote  his  widowed  son : 

"MT  DEABI.T  BELOVED  SoN  AND  FiBST  BoBN, 

"I  am  unable  to  write  a  Word,  but  my  ten- 
der sympathy  with  you  compels  me  to  attempt 
to  dictate.  I  feel  tor  your  Distresses,  but  can 
only  carry  you  afresh  to  Him  into  whose  hand 
I  have  so  many  thousand  times  committed 
you.  You  Preach  to  others,  Preach  now  to 
yourself.  Carry  my  tenderest  Blessings  to 
Mather  and  my  other  Dear  Grandchildren, 
whom  I  leave  in  the  kind  Hands  of  my  Lord 
Jesus,  I  am 

"Your  most  affectionate  and  dying  Parent 
"M.  Btles." 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY         «13 
Doctor  Byles's  daughter  Elizabeth,  bom 
March  twenty-second.  1737.  was  married 
as  his  second  wife,  in   1760.   to  Gawen 
Brown  of  Boston,  a  noted  maker  of  watches 
and  clocks."  and  became  the  mother  of 
Mather  Brown,  a  painter  of  some  note, 
bom  October  seventh.  1761.  who  in  1780 
left  Boston  for  London,  with  letters  from 
h.s    grandfather    to    Copley    and    Doctor 
Benjamin    Franklin.    Brown's    later    sue 
cess  m  London  was  probably  due  in  great 
measure  to  the  fact  that  through  FranUin 
he  came  almost  immediately  to  the  favour- 
able notice  of  Benjamin  West.    When  he 
reached  London.  West  was  in  Paris,  and 
thither  Brown  almost  immediately  went. 
In  a  letter  home  in  1781  he  writes:    "Df 
Franklin  has  given  me  a  pass,  and  recom- 
mendatory letter  to  the  famous  W  West 
He  treats  me  with  the  utmost  politeness; 
has  given  me  an  invitation  to  his  home 
I  delivered  him  my  grandfather's  message 
he    expressed    himself    with    the    greatest 


814    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


m 


r 


r'jj 


esteem  and  a£Fection  for  him,  and  has  since 
introduced  me  at  Versailles,  as  being  grand- 
son lo  one  of  his  most  particidar  friends 
in  America."  In  another  letter  Brown 
vrites:  "In  consequence  of  the  recom- 
mendation of  Jy  Franklin,  who  gave  me 
letters  to  his  fellow-townsman,  the  famous 
ly  West  of  Philadelphia,  I  practise  gratia 
with  this  gentleman,  who  affords  me  every 
encouragement,  as  well  as  M'  Copley, 
who  is  particularly  kind  to  me,  welcomed 
me  to  his  home,  and  lent  me  his  pictures, 
etc.  At  my  arrival  M'  Treasurer  Gray 
carried  me  and  introduced  me  to  Lord 
George  Germaine." 

As  a  pupil  of  West,  Brown  studied  some 
time  in  Paris,  but  in  1782,  and  thereafter 
for  fifty  years,  he  painted  and  exhibited 
at  the  Royal  Academy  in  Lond-jn.  In 
England  he  painted,  besides  many  noted 
military  and  naval  officers  and  other  com- 
moners. King  George  Third  and  Queen 
Charlotte,  and  the  GentleTnan's  Magazine 


MATHER  BROWN 
Prem  the  original  pamting  by  himself 


:i. 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY         «i« 

■tylM  him  "Hutorical  Painter  to  His 
Majesty  and  the  late  Dulcc  of  York."  In 
!"•  lart  years  Brown  grew  eccentric  and 
lived  in  a  forlorn  way;  his  death  occurred 
in  London  on  the  W*  of  May,  18S1. 

Doctor  Byles's  sixth  and  last  child  by 
his  first  wife  was  Samuel,  bom  twenty- 
third  of  March,  1748.  who  studied  medi- 
cine and  seems  to  have  already  reached 
his   profession  when   he  died,   June  six- 
teenth, 1764.    After  his  death  his  father 
published  a  litUe  volume  called   "Pious 
Remains  of  a   Young   GenUeman   lately 
Deceased,"  the  book  consisting  of  a  touch- 
ing  prose  episUe  to  one  of  Us  half-sisters 
whom   he  calls   "AminU,"   in  which   he 
gives  a  fervid  imaginaiy  account  of   the 
experiences  of  his  own  sister,  Elizabeth, 
inunediately   after  she   died;    and   eight 
selected   poems,    the   whole   prefaced   no 
doubt  by  Doctor  Byles,  his  father,  and 
the   preface   bearing  date   July   seventh. 
1764. 


«16    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

When  Doctor  Bylra  died  his  only  living 
descendants  in  Boston  were  his  two 
younger  daughters,  the  Misses  Mary  and 
Catherine  Byles.  Of  these  ladies  in  their 
earliest  youth  we  hear  very  little,  but  at 
the  time  of  the  Revolution  they  come 
before  us  in  a  rather  clear  and  entirely 
picturesque  way.  In  1775  Miss  Mary 
was  twenty-five  and  Miss  Catherine 
twenty-two,  and  while  the  siege  was  in 
progress  the  British  officers  of  highest 
rank,  as  we  have  shown,  seem  to  have  been 
frequent  visitors  at  their  father's  house; 
one  of  these  visitors  being  Earl  Percy, 
whose  letters  from  Boston  to  his  father, 
the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  to  the 
Rev.  Doctor  Percy,  editor  of  the  noted 
"Reliques  of  Ancient  Poetry,"  a  distant 
relative  of  the  Earl,  were  recently  pub- 
lished in  Boston.  To  the  end  of  their 
days  the  Miss  Byleses  were  staunch  royal- 
ists, and  among  their  most  cherished  recol- 
lections were  the  flattering  attentions  they 


III 


MiM  CATHERINE  B'iXES 
From  the  origiiul  painting  by  Hmry  Prilum 


f 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY         817 


had  received  from  Lord  Howe  and  Earl 
Percy  during  the  siege.  Of  Earl  Percy 
they  remembered  with  satisfaction  that 
he  had  net  only  once  ordered  them  sere- 
naded by  a  regimental  band,  but  on  some 
still  happier  occasion  had  promenaded  with 
them  arm-in-arm  on  the  fashionable  Mall. 
The  Miss  Byleses  lived,  Mary  until 
October  1,  18S8,  Catherine  until  July  19, 
18S7,  the  former  dying  at  over  eighty-two, 
the  latter  at  almost  eighty-four,  and  for 
many  years  before  their  deaths  they  were 
regarded,  as  indeed  they  were,  as  lonely 
relics  of  a  period  very  remote  in  Boston's 
social  history. 

Some  time  before  the  death  of  Miss 
Mary  Byles,  Miss  Eliza  Leslie,  of  whom 
we  have  already  spoken,  sister  of  Charles 
Bobert  Leslie  the  painter,  came  to  Boston 
to  visit,  and  in  January  and  February, 
1842,  in  Graham's  Magazine,  as  we  have 
said,  she  published  some  interesting 
reminiscences  of  a  visit  she  was  permitted 


1 


818    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


to  make  to  these  ancient  spinsters.  Miss 
Mary  she  describes  as  "a  rather  broad- 
framed  and  very  smiling  old  lady,  habited 
in  a  black  worsted  petticoat  and  a  short 
gown,  into  the  neck  of  which  was  tucked 
a  book-muslin  kerchief.  Her  silver  hair 
was  smoothly  arranged  over  a  wrinkled 
but  well-formed  ,  forehead,  beneath  which 
twinkled  two  small  blue  eyes.  Her  head 
was  covered  with  a  close,  full-bordered 
white  linen  cap,  that  looked  equally  con- 
venient for  night  or  for  day."  "Miss 
Catherine  was  unlike  her  elder  sister,  both 
in  figure  and  face,  her  features  being  much 
sharper  (in  fact  excessively  sharp),  and  her 
whole  person  extremely  thin.  She  also 
was  arrayed  in  a  black  bombasin  petti- 
coat, a  short  gown,  and  a  close  lined  cap, 
with  a  deep  border,  that  seemed  almost 
to  bury  her  narrow  visage."  The  old 
ladies  kept  no  regular  servant,  and  when 
visitors  arrived  Miss  Mary  always  came 
to   the   door.    Miss   Catherine,   however. 


i! 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY 


219 


unfailingly  produced  her  own  eflfect  by 
not  making  her  appearance  till  callers  had 
sat  for  some  time  in  the  parlour.  Naturally 
the  conversation  of  both  sisters  was  much 
of  the  past,  and  always,  as  Miss  Leslie 
says,  "they  gloried,  they  triumphed,  in 
the  firm  adherence  of  their  father  and  his 
family  to  the  royalty  of  England,  and 
scorned  the  idea  of  even  now  being  classed 
among  the  eitoyennes  of  a  republic,  a 
republic,  which,  as  they  said,  they  had 
never  acknowledged  and  never  would ;  re- 
garding themselves  still  as  faithful  subjects 
to  His  Majesty  of  Britain,  whoever  that 
majesty  might  be."  To  Miss  Leslie  these 
ancient  ladies  expressed  much  regret  that 
they  had  not  been  able  to  prevail  on  their 
father  after  the  Revolution  to  renounce 
America  entirely  and  remove  with  his 
family  to  England,  in  which  case,  said 
Miss  Mary,  they  should  all  have  been 
introduced  at  court  and  the  King  and 
Queen  would  have  spoken  to  them  and 


r 


220    THE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 

thanked  them  kindly  for  their  loyalty. 
In  Boston  it  was  a  matter  of  common 
knowledge  that  on  the  accession  of  William 
the  Fourth  one  of  the  sisters  had  humbly 
addressed  his  sailor  Majesty,  assuring  him 
that  the  family  of  Doctor  Byles  of  Boston 
had  never  renounced  their  loyalty  to  the 
throne  of  England  and  never  would. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  treasures 
of  these  ancient  ladies  was  a  handsome 
chair,  brought  from  England  long  before 
by  their  grandfather,  Lieutenant-Governor 
Tailer,  on  the  top  of  which  was  carved  a 
royal  crown.  As  a  special  favour  each 
visitor  was  permitted  to  sit  a  moment  in 
this  chair,  and  always  the  hostesses'  ex- 
clamation, as  the  privileged  person  took 
his  seat,  was:  "We  wonder  that  you,  a 
republican,  can  sit  comfortably  under  the 
crown !"  Of  their  revered  father,  and 
other  members  of  their  family,  living  or 
dead,  the  Miss  Byleses  had  many  remi- 
niscences, some  of  their  father's  witty  say- 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY 


221 


ings  they  being  especially  proud  to  repeat. 
For  their  absent  nephew,  Mather  Brown, 
they  had  deep  affection,  and  of  course  no 
one  was  ever  suffered  to  forget  that  this 
moderately  successful  portrait  painter  had 
the  very  great  honour  of  having  painted 
members  of  the  Royal  Family.  On  the 
walls  of  their  parlour  hung  the  notable 
portraits  of  Doctor  Byles  which  we  have 
described,  the  latest  of  the  two  Copleys 
having  the  greatest  value  in  their  eyes, 
not  because  of  its  general  intrinsic  merit 
but  because  it  portrayed  faithfully  their 
father's  cornelian  ring.  "My  eyes,"  says 
Miss  Leslie,  "were  soon  riveted  on  a  fine 
portrait  of  Doctor  Mather  Byles,  from 
the  wonderful  pencil  of  Copley.  .  .  .  The 
moment  I  looked  at  this  picture  I  knew  it 
must  be  a  likeness,  for  I  saw  in  its  linea- 
ments the  whole  character  of  Doctor  Byles, 
particularly  the  covert  humour  of  the  eye. 
The  face  was  pale,  the  features  well-formed, 
and  the  aspect  pleasantly  acute.    He  was 


is 


SM    'jL^HE  FAMOUS  MATHER  BYLES 


I' 


represented  in  his  ecclesiastical  habili- 
ments, with  a  curled  and  powdered  wig. 
On  his  finger  \hi  j  a  signet  ring  containing 
a  very  fine  red  <  melian.  While  I  was 
contemplating  t.' .  admirably  depicted 
countenance  hii  daughters  were  both  very 
voluble  in  directing  attention  to  the  cor- 
nelian ring,  which  they  evidently  con- 
sidered the  best  part  of  the  picture; 
declaring  it  to  be  an  exact  likeness  of  that 
very  ring,  and  just  as  natural  as  life." 
In  the  Byles  parlour  abo  hung  an  attrac- 
tive portrait  of  Mather  Brown  by  himself, 
and  in  other  parts  of  the  house  portraits 
of  the  Miss  Byleses  themselves,  in  the 
freshness  of  young  maidenhood. 

From  the  time  of  their  father's  dis- 
missal from  the  pastorate  of  the  HoUis 
Street  Church,  and  perhaps  before,  the 
Byles  sisters  had  worshipped  at  Trinity 
Church,  their  Rector  at  first  being  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  who  in  1804  became 
the  second  Episcopal  bishop  of  Massachu- 


THE  BYLES  FAMILY 


tas 


setts,"  and  as  long  as  their  health  permit^  sd 
they  went  to  service  regularly  on  Sundays, 
dressed  with  slight  regard  for  changing 
fashions,  and  closely  veiled,  "not  so  much 
for  concealment  as  for  gentility."  During 
many  of  their  declining  years,  however, 
they  rarely  went,  otherwise,  far  beyond 
their  own  door.  In  their  wills  they  re- 
membered scrupulously  by  name  each  of 
a  considerable  number  of  their  brother's 
descendants  in  England  or  in  Canada,  and 
on  the  death  of  Miss  Catherine,  as  had 
been  agreed  between  the  sisters  before 
Miss  Mary  died,  the  treasures  of  the  old 
house  on  Tremont  Street,  of  which  there 
were  not  a  few,  were  almost  without  ex- 
ception removed  directly  to  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  where  some  of  the  most  valuable 
of  them  still  remain. 


NOTES 
Charib  I 

■Spngue'i  "Aniub  <A  the  Amerioa  Pulpit"  ind 
other  world  which  mention  DI  Bylei  lay  that  he  wu 
t«U,  well-proportioned,  and  altofether  of  commanding 
preience,  that  hi<  voice  wa<  at  once  mdodioiu  and  power- 
ful, and  that  hii  manner  of  addreia  both  in  public  and  in 
private  waa  highly  pleaiing. 

CsAnsB  n 

'  Reverend  D^  Samuel  Hather,  in  coniequence  of  lerioua 
diuffection  againit  him  in  the  Old  North  Church,  in  17M 
led  off  a  portion  of  the  church  and  formed  a  new  church, 
with  a  meeting  houie  at  the  comer  of  Hanover  and  North 
Bennet  atreeta.  This  church,  however,  lasted  only  until 
shortly  after  Samuel  Blather's  death  in  vm. 

■  Beverend  D!  Increase  lifather  was  ordained  over  the 
Old  North  Church,  May  27,  1064,  and  died  still  as  its 
chief  pastor,  August  23, 1723. 

<  D?  Cotton  Mather's  Diary,  Vol.  «,  p.  M. 

'Before  the  close  of  the  \T^  century  no  leas  than 
ten  members  of  the  Mather  family  had  been  graduated 
at  Harvard. 

*  His  master's  degree  came  in  course  three  years  later. 

'  One  of  theae  was  Joaiah  Smith  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  the  first  atudent  from  the  Carolinaa  to  come  to 
Harvard,  the  other  waa  Thomas  Clap  of  Scituate. 
«  tm 


maocort  hsoution  tut  chait 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CHABT  No.  2) 


po 

^ 

>    l&    110 

1^ 

11^ 

1^1^ 

APPLIED  INtOE    In. 

1C5J  Eail  Main  StrMi 

RMhMt«r.   Nlw   Torlt         146M        USA 

(716)   482  -  0300  -  Phon. 

<716)   2M-59a9  -Fox 


9»B 


NOTES 


•or  Byles'.  uncle  Cotton  Sfather  was  not  ordained 
until  seven  years  after  graduation. 

•See  Joseph  T.  Buckingham's  "Specimens  of  News- 
paper Literature:  with  Personal  Memoira,  Anecdotes, 
and  Reminiscences,"  Boston,  1840. 

"  In  an  address  to  the  public  in  the  Botkm  Gautte  of 
January  89,  17«*,  Increase  Mather  attacks  the  Cmrant, 
calling  ita  sUtement  that  he  had  been  a  supporter  of  that 
paper  a  wicked  Ubel  and  saying:  "I  cannot  but  pity 
poor  Franklin,  who  tho'  but  a  Younf  Man  it  may  be 
Speedily  he  must  appear  before  the  Judgment  Seat  of 
God,  and  what  answer  wiU  he  give  for  printing  things  so 
vile  and  abominable?  And  I  cannot  but  Advise  the 
Supporters  of  this  Courant  to  consider  the  Consequences 
of  being  Partaker,  in  other  lien;  Sins,  and  no  more  Coun- 
tenance  such  a  Wicked  Paper."  -^ 

"  The  Nea  England  Weekly  Journal  in  its  initial  num- 
ber announced  that  it  intended  publishing  the  most  re- 
markable occurrences,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  of  the 
time.  It  bore  the  imprint,  first  of  S.  KneeUnd,  then  of 
S.  Kneeland  and  T.  Green. 

"D?  Cotton  Mather  died  February  IS,  1788;  his 
father,  D?  Increase  Mather,  died,  as  we  have  bdoie 
noted,  between  four  and  five  years  earlier. 

CHAPTBBin 

'•  Honorable  Jonathan  Belcher  was  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts for  eleven  years.  In  the  "Belcher  Papers" 
(Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  e*  Series,  Voh.  6  and  7)  we  find  some 
mteresting  correspondence  between  Governor  Belcher  in 
Boston  and  Mr  Thomas  HoUis  in  London  concerning  the 


NOTES 


«7 


organicBtion  of  the  parish  and  the  building  and  fumiahing 
of  the  HoUis  Street  Church.  October  S,  17S3,  the  Gover- 
nor.  who  calla  hinuelf  "chief  patron"  of  the  church, 
writes :  "Upon  laying  out  a  considerable  tract  of  land  in 
this  town  about  two  years  ago  into  streets  and  house  lots, 
one  of  the  main  streets  was  named  HoUis  Street,  since 
which  a  number  of  worthy  men  have  erected  and  finish'd 
a  handsome  c",  whereof  the  Rev«  Mr  Mather  Byles 
was  ordain'd  the  pastor  in  Deeemb'  last.  He  is  grand- 
son to  the  Ute  Hev"  learned  and  exceUent  Dr  Increase 
Mather.  Altho'  this  new  congregation  are  a  number  of 
sober  good  Christians,  yet  they  are  not  in  the  most  plenti- 
ful! circumstances,  and  I  have  promist  to  mention  to  you 
the  procuring  for  them  by  yourself  &  friends  a  smaU  bell 
for  this  new  c"*  in  HoUis  Street."  The  beU  was  given 
by  Mr.  Hollis  in  1734,  and  was  "generaUy  thought  the 
beat  in  this  country."  The  same  year  a  handsome  clock 
was  placed  in  the  interior.  May  t,  1741,  D5  Byles 
formally  presented  to  the  church,  from  Hon.  William  Dum- 
mer,  late  lieutenant-governor,  "a  hirge  and  rich  folio 
Bible,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  read  as  a  part  of 
publick  worship  on  the  Lord's  day  among  us."  The  con- 
gregation voted  their  thanks  to  Mr  Dummer  for  this 
"sUtely  church  Bible,"  and  May  9,  174J,  reading  from 
the  Scriptures  was  introduced  in  the  church. 

""History  of  the  Old  South  Church,"  by  Hamilton 
Andrews  Hill  (1890),  Vol.  I,  p.  461. 

"Df  Byles  scrupulously  mentions  the  pUce  of  his 
wedding  in  the  family  record  which  he  kept.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  Congregationalists  at  this  time  often 
celebrated  marriages  in  their  meeting-houses. 


228 


NOTES 


"  Pelhun  and  Smibert  were  then  painting  in  Boaton, 
Copley  having  not  yet  come  on  thia  earthly  acene. 

"  Proceeding!  of  the  MaiuchuMtta  Hiatorica!  Society, 
I860-18e«,  pp.  l«4-ljie. 

"Thia  witticiam  of  D'-  Bylea  alao  cornea  to  ua  aa 
followa;  "Your  tabce  in  diatempera  miiat  be  very  bad 
when  it  haa  led  you  to  prefer  Quincy  to  Bylea." 

"There  aeema  little  doubt  that  thia  early  love  affair 
of  Dr  B.vlea'a  waa  with  Elixabeth  Wendell,  daughter  of 
Abraham  and  Katarina  (De  Key)  W  dell,  who  waa 
baptized  Auguat  *0, 1704,  and  waa  marri  .prij  H,  17M, 
to  Edmund  Quincy.  Writing  from  Boaton  to  hia  friend 
Ebenezer  Hazard  on  the  MH"  of  March,  1788,  Df  Bylea'a 
grand-nephew,  Jeremy  Belknap,  aaya  of  Judge  Quincy'a 
end :  "Old  Daddy  Quincy  died  here  about  the  time  that 
you  mention  DF  Croaby  did  at  New  York.  He  waa 
buried  the  day  before  TK  Bylea."  — "Belknap  Papere," 
Fart  2,  Haaa.  Hiat.  Soc.  Cdl.,  Vol.  3,  Sf  Seriea,  p.  5t. 

ChaptsbIV 

"  At  the  aame  time  D?  Bylea'a  wife  Anna  waa  received 
from  the  Brattle  Street  Church. 

"  Wr  Belcher  waa  a  daughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor 
William  Partridge  of  New  Hampahire. 

"We  have  aeen  thia  ponderoua  aermon,  delivered 
October  17,  17M,  in  which  D*  Prince  diacuasca  not  only 
the  natural  hiatory  of  death,  but  the  viewa  of  death  and 
the  future  held  by  Greek  and  Roman  philoaophen,  and 
many  other  daaaea  of  men,  including  the  alavea  of  Africa 
and  the  North  American  Indiana,  and  in  which  he  givea 
a  minute  account  of  many  deatha  by  earthquakea,  plaguea. 


NOTES 


S29 


deluge.,  and  conflagration*,  since  the  time  of  Chriit.  A» 
we  read  the  sermon  we  cannot  help  being  amazed  that  in 
any  age  people  could  have  lat  patienUy  through  such  a 
(earful  discourse. 

»  "Yankee  heraldry,"writes  Professor  Barrett  Wendell, 
"ha.  never  been  punctilious.  Lon|  before  the  Revolution 
people  who  found  themselve.  pro.perou.  were  apt  to  adopt 
armorial  bearings,  often  far  from  grammatical,  which  are 
rtiU  reverently  preserved  on  .Uver,  tombstone.,  and  em- 
broidered hatchmento."-"A  Literary  Hijtory  of  Amer- 
ica," p.  MS. 

"The«  three  were  Blather,  Jr.,  Elizabeth,  who  be- 
came the  wife  of  Gawen  Brown,  and  Samuel,  a  young 
phyucian,  who  died  June  16,  1764,  aged  dightly  over 
twenty-one,  having  written  a  little  prose  and  poetry, 
which  hi.  father  printed  after  hi.  death. 

•'  The  burial  phice  of  the  Byles  famUy  from  thi.  time 
wa.  Tomb  No.  «  in  the  Granary  Burying  Ground,  buUt 
by  DT  OUver  Noye^  Anna  ByW.  father,  in  1780,  at  the 
ume  time  that  Governor  Belcher  built  hi.  tomb  in  thi. 
cemetery. 

"  Hon.  William  Tailer's  death  had  occurred  at  Dor- 
che.ter,  March  8,  17S«  (new  .tyle). 

"  Dr.  Byle.  paid  for  the  property  £S«0,  the  estete  being 
dcKribed  a.  "aU  that  certain  messuage,  tenement  or 
dwelling-houM,  with  the  land  thereto  belonging,  mtuate, 
lying,  and  being  at  the  Mutherly  end  of  Bo.ton  afonaaid, 
butted  and  bounded  a.  foUow.  .  .  .  together  with  all 
and  singuhir  the  houses,  out-houses,  ediSces,  buildings, 
easement.,  and  fences  thereon  .tanding."  Thi.  wa.  the 
first  pnqwrty  the  Suffolk  Deed,  record  Mather  Byle.  a. 


880 


NOTES 


having  owned.    The  bend  in  the  nwd  when  the  hoiue 
■tood  wmi  long  known  u  "Bylei*i  Corner." 

At  some  tixae  late  in  the  livef  of  the  Miit  Byleees  the 
Byles  property  wu  deicribed  by  Mr.  Nathaniel  Bradlee 
aa  "One  old  dweUing-hotue  in  the  town  of  Boaton,  two 
■tories  high,  built  of  wood,  18}  feet  front  and  38  feet  deep. 
The  lot  of  land  measure*  ISf  feet  front  and  81  feet  deep, 
containing  in  the  whole  about  11,800  iquare  feet,  a  great 
part  of  which  ia  unimproved.  The  house  itself  is  so 
much  decayed  from  age  as  to  be  scarcely  tenantable.  This 
estate  belongs  to  Misses  M.  and  C.  Byles,  and  has  never 
been  taxed  by  the  towa."  In  ISS8,  after  the  death  of 
Miss  Catherine  Byles,  the  property  in  Tremont  Street 
was  sold  at  auction  to  a  Roxbury  man  bearing  the  familiar 
name  of  Harrison  Gray. 

»■•  Cards  of  Boston 

containing  a 

Variety  of  fact,s  and  descriptions 

relative  to  that  City 

In  past  and  present  times ; 

so  arranged  as  to  form 

An  Instructive  and  Amusing  Game 

for  young  people 

By  Miss  Leslie. 

(Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  Clerk's 
office  in  the  District  of  Massachusetts,  ISSl,  by  Munroe 
and  Francis.) " 

"The  baptisms  of  all  DF  Byles's  children  were  per- 
formed by  their  father,  who  recorded  them  lovingly  on  his 
church  register  aa  of  "my  Mather,"  or  "my  Belcher,"  or 


NOTES 


SSI 


"my  Samuel,"  "fint,  accond,  or  third  child,"  u  the  ate 
might  be. 

"  The  Ute  Rev.  Df  Henry  S.  Naah  once  Mid  tiench- 
antly  to  hia  class  in  Cambridge  that  a  certain  pioui 
church  father  "had  lived  too  much  with  godly  womoi." 

Chaptkr  V 

»  The  persons  who,  November  14,  1732,  subscribed 
the  Covenant  as  the  original  members  were :  John  Clough 
Joseph  Payson,  Henry  Gibbon,  James  Day,  Jonathf 
Neal,  Hopestill  Foster,  Ebenezer  Clough,  Nathaniel  Fi 
field,  John  Cravath,  and  Alden  Bass,  all  of  whom  hau 
been  in  communion  with  other  churches.  Besides  these 
there  were  John  Blake,  Thomas  Trott,  and  Isaac  Loring, 
who  then  for  the  first  time  were  received  into  full  com- 
munion. 

"  See  "Some  Aspects  of  the  Beligious  Life  of  New 
England,  with  Special  Beference  to  Congregationalists," 
by  George  Leon  Walker,  D.D.,  18A7. 

**  "I  can't  suppose,"  says  Bev.  Samuel  Phillips  of 
Andover,  "that  any  one  .  .  .  who  at  all  times  faithfully 
improves  the  common  grace  he  has,  that  is  to  say,  is 
diligent  in  attending  on  the  appointed  means  of  grace, 
with  a  desire  to  profit  thereby  .  .  .  shall  perish  for  want 
of  special  and  saving  grace." 

"  In  1741  the  number  of  persons  admitted  was  six,  in 
174S  thirteen,  in  1743  five,  and  in  1744  nine. 

"  The  Rev.  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  D.D.,  says  in  a  preface  to 
"Pioneers  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America"  (1903) :  "Two 
hundred  and  seventy-two  years  ago  John  Cotton,  minister 
of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  with  the  cooperation  of  his 


232 


NOTES 


minuteri.!  unciatei  aUbliihed  what  came  to  be  known 
u  the  'Great  and  Thurwlay  Lecture.'  Thii  weekly  lee- 
ture  was  in  colonial  timet  the  chief  locial  and  ndigiaiu 
event  in  Boaton." 

••  Three  other  miniaten  of  Boaton,  DT  Chauncy,  D? 
Samuel  Cooper,  and  Dr  Andrew  EUot,  had  received  their 
doctoratea  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  The  Rev. 
Ebeneier  Pemberlon,  Jr.,  had  received  his  from  Prince^ 
ton.  Before  1771  Harvard  had  given  the  degree  of  S.T.D. 
only  once:  this  was  in  1692,  to  Increase  Mather.  Ip 
1771  Harvard  gave  it  next  to  Rev.  Nathaniel  Appleton 
of  Cambridge,  who  had  graduated  in  171J. 

"See  an  article  by  James  R.  Gihnore  ("Edmund 
Kirke")  in  the  New  England  Jfayanw  for  August,  1897, 
on  "Nathaniel  Emmons  and  Mather  Byles."  D? 
Emmons  was  pastor  of  the  Second  Church.  Wrentham. 
In  tl-js  article  the  writer  gives  a  pleasant  account  of  the 
relations  between  DF  Emmons  and  Dr  Byles,  as  Dr 
Emmons  himself  had  described  them  to  him.  In  the 
same  issue  of  the  New  England  Magmne  a  a  poem  of 
twelve  stanzas  by  Henry  Ames  Blood,  entiUed  "The 
Byles  Girls"  (the  two  daughters  of  Dr  Byles). 

Chaptkb  VI 

"  Dr  Isaac  Watts  Uved  between  1874  and  1748.  Alex- 
ander Pope  between  1688  and  1744.  Johnson  says  of 
Lansdowne :  "He  had  no  ambition  above  the  imitation  of 
Waller,  of  whom  he  has  copied  the  faults  and  very  litUe 
more." 

"  So  far  as  we  can  learn.  Pope  never  wrote  Dr  Byles 
more  than  one  letter.    We  have  not  seen  this  letter,  but  it 


NOTES 


S88 


>wn 
lec- 

kiua 

Df 

leir 

'XT. 

ice- 
.D. 
It 
ton 

rad 
97, 
IK 
m. 
iie 

Dr 

lie 
of 
he 


ii  Mud  that  although  Dr  Byles  lued  to  ahow  it  with  pride, 
it  had  not  a  remarkably  pleaaant  tone.  IK  Byle«  had 
apparently  lent  Pope  tome  of  hii  own  verMt,  for  Pope 
remarks  with  lome  irony  that  he  had  feared  the  Muiee 
had  fonaken  England,  but  it  wa>  evident  they  had  only 
taken  up  their  abode  in  the  new  world.  D^  Bylee'i  latest 
letter  to  Pope,  preserved  in  his  letter  book,  is  entirely 
wanting  in  the  effervescent  praise  of  his  earlier  letters. 

Chaptxb  vn 

"  "Memorial  History  of  Boston,"  Vol.  t,  pp.  4tJ-427. 

"  Mr.  Sargent  calls  DF  Byles's  humour  "  that  frolicsome 
vein  which  was  to  him  as  congenital  as  is  the  tendency 
of  a  fish  to  swim." 

"  See  for  this  ballad  the  New  Engknd  Historic  Genea- 
logical Register,  Vol.  IS,  p.  131. 

«  Mackintosh  is  said  to  have  rolled  on  the  floor  m  an 
agony  of  laughter  at  one  of  Sydney  Smith's  jokes. 

"  See  "Drake's  Landmarks  of  Boston."  This  story  is 
also  given  as  follows :  The  architecture  of  King's  Chapel 
was  unfamiliar  to  Bostonians  generally  and  was  at  first 
much  ridiculed.  When  IK  Byles  tare  the  building  mcled. 
with  some  sarcasm  he  made  the  remark  wc  have  given 
here. 

"  "Memorial  History  of  Boston,"  Vol.  t,  p.  48S,  and 
elsewhere. 

«  D'-  Belknap  tells  it  in  its  briefer  form  in  a  letter  to 
Ebenezer  Hazard,  dated  August  28,  1780. 

"Joseph  Green,  a  Boston  merchant  of  considerable 
fortune,  is  said  to  have  had  also  the  largest  private  library 
in  New  England.    At  the  Bevolution  he  was  appointed 


X84 


NOTES 


•  muduniu  eouncUlor,  though  he  never  took  the  oath. 
Uter  he  wu  proKribed  ud  twiiihed.  and  we  Bnd  him 
•rnong  the  twenty-two  memben  of  the  LoyJut  dub 
who  met  weekly  in  London,  where  he  ipent  hi>  lut  yean. 
A  crayon  portrait  of  him  wa>  made  by  Copley.  In  the 
earlier  part  of  hi<  life,  when  he  waa  unfriendly  toward* 
Governor  Bekher,  he  waa  not  »  con«rvative  in  his  poUt- 
ical  viewi  a>  he  afterward  became. 

"  Thi.  aUuaion  ij  of  coune  to  D!  Bylei'.  cat,  on  whoM 
death  Green  had  written  an  elegy. 

«  For  thia  paiuge  at  arms  between  Bylet  and  Green 
•ee  Duyckinck's  "Cyclop«lia  of  American  Literature," 
and  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  CoU.,  «»  Series,  Vol.  t.  pp.  70-78. 

Chaptib  vm 

"The  friend  was  James  H.  Gilmore  ("Edmund 
Kirke").  See  in  the  ATfl.  Enfland  Magazine  for  August, 
1807.  the  article  we  have  before  mentioned  on  "Nathaniel 
Emmons  and  Mather  Byles." 

"  For  the  dramaUc  ending  of  Dr  Byles's  pastorate,  see 
a  sketdi  of  Joseph  May  in  the  N.  E.  Hist,  and  Gen 
Register,  Vol.  *7,  p.  116;  and  the  "Belknap  Papen"  iii 
the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  CoU.,  Vol.  4,  p.  I07. 

"  See  Mass.  Hist.  CoUections,  O"?  Series,  Vol.  4  pp 
IM,  1«8,  and  pp.  10«,  107. 

"  "Historical  Notices,"  by  Ephraim  EUot,  quoted  in 
the  "History  of  the  Old  South  Church,"  Vol.  »,  p.  iSfl. 

Chapter  IX 

"  Mass.  Hist.  CoU.,  6  Series,  Vol.  4,  part  S,  p.  Iii.  note. 
"  Dr  Ezra  Stiles's  "Literary  Diary,"  Vol.  t,  p.  168. 


NOTES 


8S5 


••  D;  Uather  Bylet,  Jr.,  luul  written  Mr.  lUOt,  inm 
Halifax,  under  date  o(  February  17,  1778,  telling  him 
that  he  (Bailey)  wai  entitled  to  apply  tor  fifty  poundi 
to  an  English  fund  for  the  relief  of  diitreucd  clergymen 
in  America.  — "Life  of  Bev.  Jacob  Bailey,  the  Frontier 
Miiaionary." 

"Bev.  John  Eliot  wai  n  iprightly  letter  writer 
and  hii  letten  are  none  the  len  entertaining  becauie  of 
the  writer'!  poeitive  opinionj.  It  would  Mem  at  if  both  he 
and  Jeremy  Belknap  may  have  had  lome  pciwnal  grudge 
againat  Dr  Bylea. 

"  "Memorial  Hiitory  of  Boeton,"  Vol.  8,  p.  160. 

"  See  Knox's  portrait  in  the  third  volume  of  the 
"Memorial  History  of  Boston." 

**  See  "Dealings  with  the  Dead,"  and  Drake's  "History 
of  Boston,"  pp.  740-748.  The  former  reporte  D!  Byles  as 
saying  when  he  saw  the  troops :  "  Well,  I  think  we  can  no 
longer  complain  that  our  grievances  are  not  red-dressed  I" 

CbaptzbX 

*■  It  will  be  remembered  that  some  of  the  leading 
Tory  families,  like  the  Brinleys  and  Royalls,  who  were 
obliged  to  leave  Massachusetts  at  the  time  of  the  Rt  vo- 
lution, livw'd  chiefly  out  of  town,  in  Cambridge,  Roxbury, 
or  Medford. 

•>  Franklin  was  bom  January  17,  1706,  and  died  April 
17, 1790. 

"  The  Neva-England  Courant  was  first  I  ued  August 
7,  1721,  the  only  earlier  Boston  newspapers  having  been 
the  BotUm  Nem-Letter,  begun  in  1704,  and  the  Bmlon 
Ottutle,  started  in  1718.    With  these  two  papers  the 


«•  NOTES 

Comma  ran  •loDg  uoUl  June  4,  I7M,  when  it  ttopped. 
Between  February  H,  17(8,  ud  July  tO,  17M,  it  wu 
nominally  printed  by  Benjamin  FranUin  in  Queen  Street ; 
from  July  17,  17M,  until  June  4,  17Sa,  it  wa<  iMued  in 
Union  Street,  still  in  Benjamin  FranUin'e  name.  Ben- 
jamin, however,  finally  left  Boiton,  in  October,  17«S. 

"Thi»  letter  ii  printed  in  "Dr  Franltlin't  Life  and 
Lettera."  It  appeared  abo  in  "The  Bower  o(  Taite," 
Karch  1,  I8t8. 

Chaptu  XI 

"IX  Jeremy  Belknap,  the  eminent  hiatorian  and 
liberal  theologian,  wai  the  eldeit  child  of  JoKph  and 
Sarah  (Bylei)  Belknap.  He  wai  bom  in  Boeton  June  4, 
1744,  and  died  June  «0,  1708.  In  1784,  when  he  wai 
debating  whether  he  ihould  enter  the  miniatry  or  not, 
in  diitreu  of  mind  he  wrote  hi<  great-uncle  ezprening 
hia  fear  that  he  wai  not  fit  ipiritually  for  the  minia- 
terial  office.  To  the  young  man'i  frank  letter  D'.  Byle* 
replied  in  the  kindlieet  and  moat  judicious  and  Christian 
way  that  while  he  is  gkd  of  the  deep  piety  his  nephew 
shows  he  feels  that  he  is  mistakenly  writing  bitter  things 
against  himself.  "My  dear  Child,"  he  tenderly  says, 
"it  is  with  a  mixture  of  pleasure  and  sorrow  that  I 
read  your  letter.  I  am  pleased  to  see  your  great  care  not 
to  enter  the  ministry  in  a  state  of  unrenewed  nature; 
and  I  am  grieved  at  your  censure  upon  yourself."  "May 
God  bless  you,  my  Son,"  the  writer  closes,  "and  sanctify 
and  comfort  you;  and  introduce  you  with  the  noblest 
preparation  into  the  ministry.  So  prays  your  affectionate 
M.  Byles."    To  this  kindly  letter  Belknap  replies  asking 


NOTES 


C87 


Um  uncle  to  pray  Uut  he  might  not  be  mutaken  in  a  nutter 
of  luch  everluting  importance  i  that  he  might  not  build 
on  a  fake  foundation. 

••  See  the  "  Belknap Papen,"  Vol.  I,  p.  470;  "Memorial 
Hiitory  of  Boaton."  Vol,  S,  p.  7;  "Hiatory  of  the  Old 
South  Church,"  Vol.  t,  p.  <40. 

"  A  declaration  made  by  the  daughter!  of  Df  Bylee 
in  connexion  with  the  aettlement  of  their  father'e  eitata 
includes  the  itatement  that  a  number  of  their  friend* 
"  raiaed  a  lum  of  money  by  luLacription  to  defray  the  «- 
pensei  of  hit  funeral  without  any  charge  to  the  eatate." 
v.  Hilt.  Coll.,  a,  SI. 


Chaptsb  xn 

"  Hii  father  baptixed  him,  recording  the  baptism 
affectionately  as  of  "my  Mather."  He  graduated  at 
Harvard,  as  we  have  said,  in  1751,  but  his  ordination  at 
New  London  did  not  take  place  until  November  18, 1717, 
What  he  was  doing  from  17A1  to  17M  we  do  not  know, 
but  from  17M  to  17«7  he  was  (the  STf)  librarian  of  Har- 
vard College.  See  "  Library  of  Harvard  University,  Bio- 
graphical Contributions,"  Edited  by  Justin  Winsor,  No. 
it;  "The  Librarians  of  Harvard  College  im7-1877,"  by 
Alfred  Claghora  Potter  and  Charles  Knowles  Bolton, 
Cambridge,  I8V7.  In  the  BotUm  Etming-Pott  of  May  i, 
1768,  we  read :  "On  Friday  last  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mather 
Byles,  and  Family,  came  to  Town  from  New  London; 
and  we  hear  he  embarks  in  the  first  Vessel  for  England,  in 
order  to  receive  Episcopal  Ordination  to  qualify  himself  for 
Minister  of  Christ  Church  here,  from  whom  he  received 
an  invitation,  as  lately  mentioned." 


i'  '-n 


998  NOTES 

At  the  evMUBtion  of  Boaton,  with  acrenteen  other 
Anglican  dergymen  he  went  to  Halifax,  one  of  theK 
clergymen  being  the  Rev.  Df  Caner.  "boit  with  bodily 
infirmities  and  in  hi>  Mventy-ieventh  year."  A  letter 
from  Dr  Caner  aoon  after,  from  Halifax,  aays:  "Aa 
to  the  Clergy  of  Boston,  indeed,  they  have  for  eleven 
months  past  been  exposed  to  difficulty  and  distress  in 
eveiy  shape;  and  as  to  myself,  having  determined  to 
maintaiu  my  post  as  long  as  possible,  I  continued  to 
officiate  to  the  snull  remains  of  my  parishioners,  though 
without  a  support,  till  the  lO"?  of  March,  when  I  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly  recei\<ed  notice  that  the  King's  troops 
would  immediately  evacuate  the  town.  It  is  not  easy 
to  paint  the  distress  and  confusion  of  the  inhabitants  on 
this  occasion.  1  had  but  six  or  seven  hours  allowed  to 
prepare  for  the  measure,  being  obliged  to  embark  the 
same  day  for  Halifax,  where  we  arrived  the  1?  of  April. 
This  sudden  movement  prevented  me  from  saving  my 
books,  furniture  or  any  part  of  my  interest,  except  bed- 
ding, wearing  apparel,  and  a  little  provision  for  my  small 
family  during  the  passage. 

"I  am  now  at  Halifax  with  my  daughter  and  servant, 
but  without  any  means  of  suRwrtt  except  what  I  receive 
from  the  benevolence  of  the  worthy  Dr  Bieynton." 

"The  well-known  Nova  Scotia  families  of  Almon, 
Des  Brisay,  and  Bitchie,  are  among  his  descendants. 

"EBiabeth  Byles  was  married  to  Gawen  Brown  a 
little  more  than  three  months  after  Brown's  first  wife 
died.  The  HoUis  Street  Church  records  sUte  that  Gawen 
Brown  was  admitted  to  that  church  on  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation from  a  Dissenting  Church  at  IVamlington,  in 


S'fel 


NOTES 


Northumberland,  August  10,  1760.  He  married  first, 
April  S,  17j0  (Rev.  Joseph  Sewall)  Mary  Flagg,  who  died 
March  S8, 1760,  and  was  buried  in  the  Granary  Burying 
Ground,  after  luiving  borne  her  husband  six  children,  all 
of  whom  were  baptized  in  the  Old  South.  Brown  married, 
second,  July  3,  1760  (intention  June  18,  1760),  Elizabeth 
Byles,  who  bore  her  husband  one  son,  Mather,  baptized 
October  II,  1761.  Elizabeth  died  June  6, 1763,  her  death 
evidently  plunging  the  Byles  family  in  deep  grief.  Octo- 
ber IB,  1764,  Gawen  Brown  married  third,  in  the  New 
South  parish,  Elizabeth  (Hill)  Adams,  widow  of  Df  Joseph 
Adams,  brother  of  Samuel  Adams  the  patriot.  Brown 
diLil  August  8,  1801,  aged  82.  See  notes  on  Gawen  and 
Blather  Brown  by  Frederick  L.  Gay  in  Mass.  Hist.  Soc. 
Froceedmgs,  XLVn,  pp.  289,  «93  (March-April,  1914). 

"  It  was  owing  to  the  Christian  thoughtfulneas  of  Rev. 
Dr  Andrew  Eliot  of  the  New  North  Church,  who,  we  have 
stated,  was  one  of  the  three  Congregational  ministers  who 
stayed  in  Boston  during  the  siege,  that  Rev.  Samuel 
Parker  did  not  go  away  with  the  other  Anglican  clergy- 
men when  Howe  evacuated  the  town.  The  Rector  of 
Trinity  Church  at  the  time  was  the  Rev.  DF  William 
Walter,  a  brother-in-law  of  Rev.  Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  and 
his  assistant  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker.  When  the 
word  was  given  that  the  Tories  must  leave,  Df  Caner,  Dt 
Walter,  and  Rev.  Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  at  once  took  refuge 
with  Howe's  fleet,  and  Mr.  Parker  also  was  packing  his 
books  to  go.  DF  Eliot  had  been  an  opponent  of  Epis- 
copacy but  he  realized  the  deplorable  state  religiously 
that  the  Boston  Anglicans  would  be  in  if  no  minister  of 
their  faith  was  left  in  the  town.    Accordingly,  he  went 


«40       PUBLISHED  WRITINGS 

to  Mr.  Pwker  md  told  him  tUt  m  he,  occupying  . 
«condary  position  in  Trinity  Church,  had  not  i»,uMd 
the  anti«oni,m  of  the  Patriot,  he  would  be  «fe  in  .taying 
and  that  he  had  better  not  de«rt  hi.  people.  Mr  Parker 
took  hi.  advice  and  .tayed,  with  the  result  that  in  1804  he 
became  for  a  year  (until  hi.  death)  the  «cond  Bishop  ol 
MawachuKtt..  The  evacuation  took  pUce  in  March 
and  the  foUowing  July,  on  Mr  Parker',  representing  that 
he  could  no  longer  «fely  pray  for  the  King,  the  warden. 
«.d  v«try  instructed  him  to  omit  the  prayer,  for  the 
Royal  Family.  -Footo'.  "History  of  King's  Chapel,"  Vol 
«,  pp.  306-309. 

DOCTOR  BYLES'S  CHIEF  PUBUSHED 

WHITINGS 

A  Poem  on  the  Death  of  His  Ute  Majesty  King  George, 

rf  Glorious  Memory,  and  the  Accewion  of  our  Prerent 

Sovereign,  King  George  n,  to  the  Britirii  Throne.    Printed 

A  Poem  prewnted  to  Hi.  EiceUency  William  Buraet, 
E«l. :  on  his  arrival  at  Boston,  July  19, 1748.    Printed  in 

The  Character  of  the  Perfect  and  Upright  Man;  his 
Peaceful  End  de^ribed ;  and  Our  Duty  to  observe  it  hud 
down.  InaDiscourwonPsahnSTiST.  Printed  for  S 
Gerrish,  17«9. 

A  Disco-irae  on  the  Present  Vilenes.  of  the  Body,  and 
its  Future  Glorious  Change  by  Christ.  To  which  is  added 
a  Sermon  on  the  Nature  and  Importance  of  Conversion. 
Both  occasionally  deliver'd  at  Dorehester  April  «S,  173* 
Punted  by  S.  Kneeland  and  T.  Green  for  N.  Ptoctor,  1738 


PUBLISHED  WRITINGS       241 

The  Faithful  Servant,  Approv'd  at  Death,  and  Entring 
into  the  Joy  of  His  Lord.  A  Sermon  at  the  Publick  Lee- 
ture  in  Boston,  July  in,  17S«.  Occasioned  by  the  much 
lamented  Death  of  the  Honourable  Daniel  Oliver,  Esq. ; 
one  of  Hia  Majesty's  Council  for  the  Province.  Who 
Deceased  there  the  «S?  of  the  same  month,  in  the  69"? 
year  of  His  Age.  ..  .  With  a  Poem  by  Mr.  Byles. 
[Psalm  K :  1.]  Printed  by  S.  Kneeland  and  T.  Green  for 
D.  Henchman,  in  Comhill,  17318.  Second  title.  An 
Elegy,  address'd  to  His  Excellency  Govemour  Belcher: 
on  the  Death  of  his  Brother-in-law,  the  Honourable 
Daniel  Oliver,  Esq. 

To  His  Excellency  Govemour  Belcher,  on  the  Death 
of  His  Lady.  An  Epistle.  By  the  Reverend  Mr  Byles. 
Printed  in  1736. 

On  the  Death  of  the  Queen.  A  Poem.  Inscribed  to 
Hia  Excellency  Govemour  Belcher.  By  the  Reverend 
Mr  Byles.  Printed  by  J.  Draper,  for  D.  Henchman  in 
Comhill,  17S8. 

Affection  on  Things  Above.  A  Discourse  delivered  at 
the  Thursday  Lecture  in  Boston,  December  11,  1740. 
Printed  m  1740,  by  G.  Rogers  and  D.  Fowle  for  J.  Edv.  aids 
and  H.  Foster,  in  Comhill. 

The  Glories  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  the  Fortitude 
of  the  Religious  Hero.  A  Sermon  preached  to  the  Ancient 
and  Honourable  Artillery  Company,  June  i,  1740.  Being 
the  Anniversary  of  their  Election  of  Officers.  [Text  II 
Kings  9 : 4,  «,  6.]  Printed  in  1740,  and  sold  by  Thomas 
Fleet  and  Joseph  Edwards  at  their  shop  in  Comhill. 
(Reprinted  in  Gmerai  Magaiine  and  Hutorieal  Ckrmide, 
Vol.  1,  pp.  84-34,  Phikdelphia,  1741.) 


848       PUBLISHED  WRITINGS 


The  Flouruh  of  the  Annual  Spring,  Improved  in  a 
Sermon  Preached  at  the  Ancient  Thursday  Lecture  in 
Boston,  May  8,  1789.  [Text,  Numbers  17 : 8.)  Printed 
in  1741,  and  sold  by  Rogers  and  Fowle  at  the  Printing 
Office  over  against  the  South-east  Comer  of  the  Town 
House. 

Bepentance  and  Faith  the  Great  Doctrine  of  the 
Gospel  of  Universal  Concernment.  Printed  in  1741,  and 
sold  by  J.  Eliot. 

The  Visit  to  Jesus  by  Night.  In  Evening  Lecture. 
Printed  by  Bogera  and  Fowle,  at  the  head  of  Queen 
Street,  near  the  Town  House,  in  1741. 

The  Character  of  the  Perfect  and  Upright  Man,  His 
Peaceful  End  Described;  and  our  duty  to  observe  it  laid 
down,  in  a  Discourse  on  Psalm  87 :  87.  To  which  is  added 
an  Exemplification  of  the  Subject  in  a  Short  Account  of 
the  Peaceful  Death  of  ilf  Anna  Byles.  By  Mr.  Byles. 
The  Second  Edition.  Printed  by  B.  Green  and  Company 
for  D.  Gookin,  at  the  comer  of  Wat«-  Street,  Comhill, 
1744. 

The  Comet :  A  Poem.  Printed  and  sold  by  B.  Green 
and  Company  in  Newbury  Street,  and  D.  Gockin  at  the 
comer  of  Water  Street,  Comhill,  1744. 

God  Glorious  in  the  Scenes  of  the  Winter.  A  Sermon 
preach'd  at  Boston,  December  «8,  1744.  Printed  by  B. 
Green  and  Company  for  D.  Gookin,  over  against  the  Old 
South  Meeting  House,  1744. 

Poems  on  Several  Occasions.  By  Mr.  Byles.  Printed 
by  S.  Kneeland  and  T.  Green,  1744.  This  collection  in- 
cludes thirty-two  poems,  several  of  which  are  given  sepa- 
rately in  the  present  list.    One  poem  of  this  collection  is 


PUBLISHED  WRITINGS       243 


addrened,  "To  the  Rev.  Df  WstU  on  his  Divine  Poenu." 
The  preface  to  the  collection  aays :  "The  Poenu  collected 
in  then  Pages  were  for  the  most  Part  written  as  the 
Amusements  of  looser  Hours,  while  the  Author  belonged 
to  the  College,  and  was  unbending  his  Mind  from  severer 
Studies,  in  the  Entertainments  of  the  Classicks.  Most 
of  them  have  been  several  Times  printed  here,  at  Lon- 
don, and  elsewhere,  either  separately  or  in  Miscellanies: 
And  the  Author  iias  now  flrawn  them  intb  a  Volume. 
Thus  he  gives  up  at  once  these  lighter  Productions,  and 
bids  adieu  to  the  airy  Muse." 

The  Glorious  Rest  of  Heaven,  A  Sermon  a^.  the  Thurs- 
day Lecture  in  Boston,  January  3, 1744/5.  Py  Mr.  Byles. 
[Tezt,  Matt.  17 : 4.]  Published  at  the  Request  of  many 
of  the  Hearers.  Printed  by  B.  Green  and  Company  for 
D.  Gookin,  over  against  the  Old  South  Meeting  House, 
1745. 

The  Prayer  and  Plea  of  David  to  be  delivered  from 
Blood-guiltiness,  Lnproved  in  a  Sermon  at  the  Ancient 
Thursday  Lecture  in  Boston,  May  16'!',  17J1.  Before  the 
Execution  of  a  Young  Negro  Servant  for  poisoning  an 
Infant.  (Psahn  40 : 9,  10.]  Printed  and  sold  by  Samuel 
Kneeland,  opposite  the  Prison  in  Queen  Street.  1751. 

God  the  Strength  and  Portion  of  His  People  under 
all  the  Exigencies  of  Life  and  Death :  A  Funeral  Sermon 
on  the  Honou.  .ible  M"  Katherine  Dummer,  the  Lady  of 
His  Honour,  William  Dummer,  Esq.;  late  Lieutenant 
Governor  and  Commander  in  Chief  over  this  Province. 
Preach'd  at  Boston,  January  0, 1752,  the  Lord's  Day  after 
her  Death  and  Burial.    Printed  by  John  Draper,  1752. 

Divine  Power  and  Anger  Displayed  in  Earthquakes. 


J 

Mi 

I 


:1 


244       PUBLISHED  WRITINGS 

A  Sermon  occuiooed  by  the  Ute  Earthquake  in  New 
England,  November  18,  ITif.  And  Preached  the  next 
Lord'a  Day  at  Point  Shirley.  .  .  .  Published  at  the 
Pressing  Importunity  of  the  Hearers.  [Six  line*  of  Scrip- 
ture texts.]  Printnl  and  sold  by  S.  Kneeland,  in  Queen 
Street,  l7iS. 

The  Conflagration,  Applied  to  that  Grand  Period  w 
Catastrophe  of  our  World,  when  the  face  of  Nature  is  to 
be  changed  by  a  Deluge  of  Fire,  as  formerly  it  was  by 
that  of  Water.  The  God  of  Tempest  and  Earthquake. 
Printed  and  sold  by  D.  Fowle,  in  Ann  Street,  and  Z. 
Fowie,  in  Middle  Street.  The  catalogue  of  the  Boston 
Public  Library  gives  the  date  as  17M,  that  of  the  Mass. 
Hist.  Soc.  a3  I7M.  The  poem  was  first  printed  in  the 
New-EngUmd  Weekly  Journal,  May  19,  1729. 

The  Man  of  God  Thoroughly  Furnished  to  Every  Good 
Work.  A  Sermon  preached  at  the  ordination  of  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Mather  Byles  to  the  Pastoral  Office,  in  the 
First  Church  of  Christ  in  New  London,  November  18, 
1757.  To  which  is  Added  the  Charge  given  him  upon 
that  Occasion.  By  his  Father.  (Text,  Proverbs  SS :  \S, 
16.]  Printed  and  sold  by  Nathaniel  Green  and  Timothy 
Green,  Jr.,  1758.  (The  copy  in  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc. 
library  has  manuscript  corrections  by  the  author.) 

The  Vanity  of  Every  Man  at  His  Best  Estate.  A 
Funeral  Sermon  on  the  Honourable  William  Dununer,Esq., 
Late  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Commander  in  Chief  over 
the  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England, 
who  Died  October  10,  1761.  Aged  84  years.  [Text, 
Ecclesiastes  12 : 7,  8.]  Printed  by  Green  and  Russell  in 
Boston,  1761. 


PUBLISHED  WRITINGS       245 


lezt 
tlw 
rip. 
een 

or 
I  to 

by 
it. 

Z. 
ton 
ua. 
the 

Md 

the 
the 
18. 
mn 
If, 
thy 


A 

iq., 
ver 
ad, 
xt. 


Hie  Flourish  of  the  Annual  Spring,  Impraved  in  a 
Sermon  Preached  at  the  Ancient  Thuraday  Lecture  in 
Boeton,  Hay  I,  1739.  With  a  Hymn  for  the  Spring. 
The  Second  Edition.  Beaton:  Beprinted  by  Thoniaa 
and  John  Fleet  at  the  Heart  and  Crown  in  Comhill  in 
1769.  (The  copy  in  the  Maaaachuaetta  Hiatorical  Society 
Library  haa  in  it  the  autograph  "Catharine  Bylea.") 

The  Glories  of  the  Lord  of  Hoata,  and  the  Fortitude 
of  the  Religioua  Hero.  A  Sermon  preached  to  the  Ancient 
and  Honourable  Artillery  Company,  June  2,  1740.  Being 
the  Anniversary  of  their  Election  of  Officers.  [Text  II 
Kings  9:4,  5,  6.]  The  Third  Edition.  Reprinted  by 
Thomas  and  John  Fleet,  at  the  Heart  and  Crown  in  Com- 
hill, 1769. 

A  Sermon  on  the  Nature  and  Necessity  of  Conversion, 
reprinted  by  Edes  and  Gill  in  1769  [First  printed  in  1732]. 

New  England  Hymn  [Adapted  to  tune  America]. 
Printed  in  "The  New  England  Psalm-Singer  or  American 
Chorister."    Edea  and  Gill,  probably  1770. 

A  Discourse  on  the  Present  Vileness  of  the  Body  and 
Its  Future  Glorious  Change  by  Christ  [Text,  Acts  17 :  18.] 
The  Second  Edition.  Reprinted  by  Thomas  and  John 
Fleet,  at  the  Heart  and  Crown,  m  Comhill,  1771.  Printed 
with  this  sermon,  in  the  second  edition,  is  an  essay  called 
"The  Meditation  of  Cassim,  the  Son  of  Ahmed,"  which 
was  first  printed  in  the  Neic-England  Weekly  Journal  in 
1727. 

The  Death  of  a  Friend  lamented  and  improved.  A 
Funeral  Sermon  on  John  Gould,  Esq. ;  who  Died  January 
8,  1772.    Boston :  Printed  by  Richard  Draper,  1772. 

An  "Epistle,"  in  two  pages,  introducing  a  sermon  on 


246 


LETTERS 


i 


'    '  f! 


the  death  of  "the  Hononble  Abigail  Belcher,  late  Con- 
tort of  Jonathan  Belcher,  lUq. ;  Late  Lieutenant  Governor 
and  Commander  in  Chief  and  Hii  Majeaty'i  present 
Chief  Jiutice  of  Hii  Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  de- 
livered at  Halifax  in  the  aaid  Province,  October  20, 
1771,  by  John  Secombe  rf  Cheater,  A.M.  With  an 
Epiitle  by  Mather  Bylea,  D.D.,  of  Boaton."  (Tezta, 
John  17:«4;  Luke  iS:4S.]  Boeton,  New  England, 
Printed  by  Thumaa  and  John  Fleet,  177*.  The  "  Epijtle  " 
ia  addresaed  to  Chief  Justice  Jonathan  Belcher  of  Nova 
Scotia,  son  of  Governor  Jonathan  Belcher,  and  is  signed, 
"Your  Honour's  moat  affectionate  Kin.m.n  and  faithful 
Friend  and  Servant,  Mather  Byles,"  and  dated  "Beaton, 
January,  iO,  1772."  [Rev.  John  Secombe  was  a  Congre- 
gational minister  settled  at  Cheater,  Nova  Scotia.] 

DRAFTS  OF  LETTERS  IN  MAND8CR1PT 

A  list  of  the  names  of  persons  to  whom  drafts  of  letten 
in  manuscript  are  found  i-  D?  Byles's  letter  book  in  the 
library  of  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society 
is  as  follows : 

Mr  Alexander  Pope,  Oct.  7, 17187. 

The  Honourable  Isaac  Window,  Esq.,  Marshfield.  No 
date. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  James  Gardner,  pastor  of  the  Church  in 
Marshfield.    No  date. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Isaac  Watts  at  my  Lady  Asbury's,  in 
Lime-Street,  London,  May  3,  17128. 

M?  Alexander  Pope,  May  18,  17«8. 

Alexander  Pope,  Esq.,  Nov.  iS,  1748. 

The  Reverend  Isaac  Watts,  D.D.,  May  8,  1729. 


m 


>te  Con- 
jovemor 

present 
>tu,  de- 
iber  JM, 
With  an 

(Tczti. 
Bnglandi 
Epiatle" 
of  Nova 
I  (igned, 

faithful 
'Boston, 
Congie- 
I 

IPT 

>f  letters 
k  in  the 
1  Society 


lid.  No 
tiurch  in 
iry's,  in 

!9. 


LETTERS  947 

JP  Nathanael  Walter  in  Glocester,  Oct.  14,  I7M 
The   Right  Honourable  John   Lord   Barringtoii  at 

Beckett  House.  Dec.  U,  1780. 

The  Right  Honourable  George  GranviUe  My  Lord 

Lansdowne,  Dec.  M,  17S0. 

The   Right   Honourable   George.   Lord   Lansdowne. 
March  4,  173). 

The  Reverend  Mr  Thomas  Bradbury,  London,  March 

4,  nsj. 

The  Rev.  Dr  baac  Watts,  Jan.  S.  1786/7. 
Alexander  Pope,  Esqr.,  Twickenham.    Nod/te. 
Mr  Junes  Thomson.    To  be  left  in  New-Street,  Lon- 
oon,  Jan.  4,  178(1/7. 

The  Honourable  D- Benjamin  Franklin,  London.  No 
date. 

The  Rev?  Dr  John  Chalmers,  Principal  of  the  King's 
CoUege  and  University  of  Aberdeen.    No  date. 

His  E-cceUency  the  Governor  [Hutchinson],  AprU  8, 

The  HonourableA  jdrewOUver,  Esqr,Salem.    No  date 

M?  Livingstone,  sent  the  Day  after  her  Husband  and 
others  had  been  here  on  a  visit,  when  800  dolhirs  was 
found  left  in  the  chamber  closet.    May  U,  1780. 

M'  Murray,  Glocester,  Jan.,  1781. 

Mr  Enoch  Brown,  Boston,  Feb.  10,  1781. 

His  daughter-in-Uw  in  Halifax,  on  the  death  of  his 
[second]  wife.    No  date. 

Mr  Frederick  William  Geyer,  London,  July  1,  1788. 

Mr  Holmes,  London,  Nov.  4,  1788. 

Mr  Frederick  William  Geyer,  merchant  in  London, 
Nov.  14,  1788. 


I        I 


248 


LETTERS 


Hi*  (Uughter-in-kw  in  lUifu,  Dee.  10,  ITM. 

Bev.  Ens  SUIm.  Prerident  of  Yale  CoUege,  New 
Haven.  April  IS,  1787. 

Df  Bylei,  Halifu,  April  14, 1787. 

His  Excellency  Benjamin  Franklin,  Eiq',  Philadelpliia, 
Hay  14. 1787. 

Hr  Gawen  Brown,  Petertburg,  Virginia,  May  14. 1787. 

(Following  these  letters  of  D!  Byles's  are  many  from 
his  daughters  to  various  friends,  especially  their  brother 
and  his  family  in  Halifax.] 


New 


IpUm. 

1787. 
from 
other 


INDEX 


— . mm), 

Aduu,  Bnr.  Joko,  ts, 
Adunib  JoMph.  «N. 
Aduni^  Suniwl,  147,  IW. 
Alnua.  Or.  WiUiun  Bnin,  11. 
AtawB.  iMiily,  o*H«U«^  Nov. 

Scotia.  US. 
Amofy,  Jokn.  H. 
A11M17,  Mn.  Jalu,  M. 
Appleton,  Rev.  Nathuid,  IM. 
Aptkorp,  Mn.  Jobs,  St. 
Artillefy  Compuiy.  84. 
Attucki,  Cliqiiu,  14«. 
AochmuUr,  Judo  Bobert.  Jr. 

1S4. 


..  Her.  Jacobb  1V7-1M, 
tM. 

Buna.  Mn.  Jobn,  «s. 
Bui,  Akkn.  ISl. 
Mdwr,  Andrew,  88,  S»,  80. 
Bdcher,  Andrew,  Jr..  41, 40, 
Belcher,  Ann,  48. 
Belcher,  (unily,  41,  80,  81,  u». 
Belcher,  Governor  JonaUun,  38 
M,  48,  J8,  ISO.  178,  888,  Sit! 
Belcher,  Mn.  Jonatbim,  58-60. 
" Belcher  lapen,"  888. 
Belcher.  Sarah,  48. 
Belknap,  Eev.  Jeremy,  88,  118, 
IM.  158,  188,  lSS-800,  803 
MS,  883,  835,  838. 
"  Bellmap  Papen,"  888, 834, 837. 
BeUmap,  Sarah  (Bylea),  198. 

848 


Boaetl,  JoMph'i  aasomt  <A 

Boiton.  48-51. 
BilUnti,  Willlan,  110. 
Blake.  John,  881. 
Blood,  Henry  Amei.  888. 
Bolton,  Charlei  Knowlea,  897, 
Bolton,  church  at,  158. 
Board  ol  War,  wamuit  to  de- 

hyer  Byla  to,  185. 
Boeton.       Athen«uni.       184* 
■""COO,    181;    Beacon    Hill,' 
181;      Common,     181,    188; 
Copp'f  Hill,  13;  Dock  Squares 
IS ;  evacnatico  of,  by  General 
Howe,    174,    t\0;      Emin, 
Pot,   887;    QaattU,   87,   34, 
*M,  835;   Mall,  48,  50,  817; 
"MMionf,    188-185;     minia- 
teri,  doggerel  baUad  on,  180; 
Htm-lMtr,     885;      North 
Square,    14;    Old   North   or 
Second  Church,  14;   hi  Pro- 
vincial  period.  180-185;  "Pul- 
pit  of  the  Revolution,"  143; 
in  the  Kventeentb  century,' 
13,  14;   liege  of,  143;   lodal 
hiitory  of,  in  the  Provincial 
period,  47;   TUeston  Street, 
18;      Town     Houie,     181; 
wharves,  181. 
Bowdoin,  James,  184. 
"  Bower  of  Taste,"  836. 
Bowman,  Rev.  Jonathan,  ST. 
Boyliton,  Elisabeth,  68. 


MO 


INDEX 


\li 


BojrUtao,  Thocui,  M. 

Bndtord,  Mr.,  IM. 

Bndlet.  NsthuM  MO. 

Bn**'  "^tnct  meeUiic-hoilM, 
Bt.uo.  tnwpa  qurtcnd  in, 
151. 

Bisttk  Squu«  Cliiiick,  1(7. 

Bnyntoo,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  110, 
M8. 

Brinky  tunily,  tU. 

Britiih  troofw,  quartered  In 
BoUii  BtTMt  guetiiic-kiMiM, 
Kl. 

BramfieU,  Edwird,  184. 

Bromfidd-PhilliiM  home.  184. 

Brown,  EUiabetb  (ByW;  818. 
815,  888. 

Brown,  Gawtn,  818  880. 

Brown.  Mather,  hU  birth,  818, 
839 ;  portnUt  of,  888  i  beloved 
by  hii  aunt*.  881;  leavei 
Boaton  with  lettera  to  Copley 
and  Beniamin  Fianklin,  81S; 
kindly  treated  by  Dr.  Franlt- 
lin  and  introduced  to  Benja- 
min Weit,  185,  «1S;  itudien 
with  Weat.  814:  mtroduced 
by  Weat  at  Veruiliea,  814; 
becomea  painter  to  George 
III  and  other  royal  and  not- 
able perc.4ia,  814,  815. 

Bucldnfham,  joaeph  T.,  81«. 

Burnet.  Governor  William,  05. 

Bylea,  Anna,  41,  48,  57,  85.  888, 
880. 

Bylca,  Belcher,  85. 

Byle^  Catherine,  170-178. 

Bylea,  children'a  baptiama.  880. 
881. 

BylcK  Eliiabetb,  Sr..  16-19,  4«, 
57,  889. 


Bylea,  EUuoatk,  Jr.,  808.  818, 
888. 

"  Bylea  Giria,"  a  poam,  888. 

Bylei^  Joalaa,  18-18. 

By\M,  Mather,  no  lila  ol  him 
hitherto  written,  8;  birth.  17: 
Mather  and  Cotton  anccatry. 
8,  5,  17 ;  renambeied  in  Ua 
grandfather  Incieaae  Mather'a 
will,  80,  81 :  atudiea  at  the 
North  Latin  Scho  '  -.nd  entera 
Harvard  College,  .1,  88;  ill 
health  and  Cotton  ilather'a 
aoUcitude  tor,  81,  88;  college 
career.  8S-80 ;  hia  grandfather 
aenda  him  to  Jamea  Franklin. 
87;  letter  hi  the  Aofdm 
OauUe,  31-84 ;  connexion 
with  the  Wewcaftawl  WtsUy 
Journal,  84,  85;  ordained 
miniater  of  HoOia  Street 
Church,  84,  89-41 ;  probable 
influence  on  him  of  Cotton 
Mather,  85 ;  unaucceaaful 
love-making,  55 ;  marrica  in 
the  Province  Houie  Anna 
(Noyea)  Gale,  4l-(\  887; 
haa  lix  children  bom,  85; 
probable  Brat  dwelling  after 
marriage,  57 ;  buya  a  houie  of 
hia  own,  7,  6f ;  price  paid  for 
property,  889;  hia  wife  dlea 
and  he  preachea  her  funeral 
lermon,  85-47;  he  marriea, 
aecondly,  Rebecca  Tailer,  67 ; 
haa  three  children  bora,  78; 
leceivea  degree  of  S.T.D. 
from  Aberdeen,  85;  letter  to 
S.  Chahnen,  85,  86;  givea 
kindly  advice  to  Jeremy 
Belknap.  886.  887;    atroog 


INDEX 


Ml 


poHtiod  lyinpatUn,  IM- 
IM:  •riakxniic  tendmcin 
ud  mkUI  pontiun.  9,  M,  ns- 
]M>;  pKjudkc*  agninit  him. 
«.  «,  88;  >  (rind  III  Britiih 
offlccri  and  lUunch  Tory  in 
Uk  Rcvolutiiin.  >,  S,  4,  t,  148, 
IM,  151.  lU,  IMi  wttchct 
funeral  promfioa  of  Critpui 
Attucki,  I4II:  IrUi  Mon 
hil  cllurrli,  »,  lM-197.  171, 
17fl;  diiapprovd  of  other 
ministeri  ot  the  coune  of 
the  church,  lt7-l«S:  tried 
before  the  town  and  lenteoced 
to  traniportation,  but  lentence 
not  carri-d  out.  «.  7,  BR.  lei- 
187 ;  i-  .^riioaed  in  hii  hou«e, 
IM.  le7;  hi>  daughter  Cathe- 
rine's account  of  the  two  trial*, 
170-17«;  life  after  the  Revo- 
lution. 88.  SR,  laS;  friend- 
■hip  with  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Enuuons,  00,  01;  relations 
with  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin, 
18<-10Ji  probably  attended 
Trinity  Church.  Ml ;  viaited 
by  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey,  187  j 
ii  leiied  with  paralyiii,  108; 
Dr.  Belknap  deacribea  his 
infirmities,  100;  taken  from 
hia  house  in  the  great  fire. 
MO,  Ml;  tender  reUtions 
with  his  son.  812;  visit  of 
Rev.  Samuel  Parker  to  him 
V  -m  he  was  dying.  M2;  his 
death.  tOt,  t03:  buried  in 
the  Granary  burying-ground, 
MS;  money  subscribed  for  his 
funeral  expenses.  237;  the- 
ological position,  78 ;  made  no 


original  eoatribnlloa  to  th» 
olofr.  II :  a  brilliant  prevher, 
<,  70 ;  his  printed  sermons,  78, 
70;  avoids  polilirs  in  the 
pulpit.  14S-14S;  prays  at 
town  meeting  and  preachea 
Thursday  tecturet,  84,  108; 
"lashed"  by  Rev.  Eleuer 
Wheelock.  87;  Rev.  John 
Eliot's  criticism,  78;  Rev. 
John  Eliot's  account  of  (in 
1777).  IM;  Ephiaim  Eliot's 
strictumoa,  MO;  showed  no 
desire  to  become  an  Anglican* 
84 ;  character  of  his  ministry, 
7S ;  pnaence,  voice,  dress.  R- 
11;  portraits  of.  10-12 ;  pro- 
lific writings.  2;  attempt  of 
friends  to  exalt  as  a  great  poet, 
08-100;  a  "New  EngUnd 
pij.  t  laumte,"  178;  Epistlea 
to  Governor  Belcher,  81-83, 
08;  poem  of  welcome  to 
Governor  Burnet,  03,  08; 
"The  Conflagration."  written 
in  his  fifteenth  year.  08-08; 
letter  to  Pope,  101-lOS;  cor- 
respondence with  Pope, 
Watts,  and  Grenville.  lOS, 
104,  103,  288;  poem  to  Dr. 
Watts,  112-114;  receives  the 
Odyssey  from  Pope  and  in- 
scribes lines  in  it,  103,  106; 
attention  to  the  art  of  poetry, 
IOd-108;  interest  in  music. 
Ill;  interest  in  natural 
science,  01;  his  overflowing 
wit,  1.  t,  4;  Lucius  Manlius 
Sargent  charccteriaes  bis  hu- 
mour. 2S3 ;  pun  on  the  names 
Quincy  and  Byles.  33;   pat- 


252 


INDEX 


it 


;|:.f 


•age-at-amu  with  Joaeph 
Green.  114;  Governor  Bel- 
cher's practical  joke  on,  ISO- 
IS2;  Green's  parody  of  his 
hymn  written  at  sea.  133- 
1S7 ;  he  retorts  on  Green,  137, 
140 ;  his  "  brown  study,"  141 ; 
witticism  at  his  tnal  before 
the  justices,  173;  humoi^ 
ously  relieves  his  guard,  173, 
174;  frightens  British  troops 
by  his  joke  on  Fast  Day,  175, 
176;  makes  fun  of  General 
Knox.  175 ;  pun  on  redressing 
New  England's  grievances, 
176;  letter  to  "Mr.  Copley 
in  the  solar  system,"  ^97; 
tells  Dr.  Cooper  he  treats  him 
like  a  baby.  197;  the  "dark 
day,"  198;  estimate  of,  118; 
estimate  of,  by  Dr.  Nathaniel 
Emmons,  90,  01 ;  opinions  of 
expressed  in  "  Memorial  His- 
tory of  Boston."  117,  118; 
where  his  gift  of  humour 
came  from,  121;  William 
"Odor's  verdict  on,  168,  164; 
his  library,  01 ;  his  letter^ 
book.  188;  miscellaneous  ef- 
fects of,  MS,  to*. 
Byles,Mather,  Jr.,  7;  bom,  65, 
M5;  baptiied,i37;  graduated 
at  Harvard,  tOS;  librarian 
of  Harvard,  837;  ordained  at 
New  London,  806;  portrait 
<d,  80S,  807;  becomes  an 
Angliffan,  808;  is  lampooned, 
809;  notice  of,  in  AMtottEtwn- 
uiy  Poit,  tstii  embarks  for 
EngUnd.  887;  assumes  the 
Bectorship  of  Christ  Churt^ 


Boston.  809,  810;  Inva  for 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  with 
Howe's  fteet,  810;  marries 
three  times,  811 ;  ministry  at 
Halifax  and  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  819, 811;  receives 
degrees  from  Harvard,  Yale, 
and  Oxford,  811:  letter  from 
his  father,  818;  writes  Rev. 
Jacob  Bailey,  835;  his  de- 
scendants, 811,  818. 

Bylea,  Misses  Mary  and  Cath- 
erine, 7,  8, 68,  70.  78, 89,  187, 
188,  805.  816-883. 

Byles.  Bebecca.  Sr.,  67,  78,  187, 
188,  811. 

Byles,  Rebecca,  Jr.,  811. 

Byles,  Samuel,  815,  889. 

Byles,  Sarah,  15. 

Byles,  Sarah  (Lyde),  811,818. 

Byles,  Thomas,  199. 

Byles  chair  surmounted  by 
crown,  880. 

Byles's  Comer,  890. 

Byles  house,  7,  68-78,  83a 

Byles  tomb,  889. 

Caner,  Rev.  Dr.,  810,  838,  839. 
'Cards  of  Boston."  69.  830. 
Castle  William,  60,  138. 
Chalmers,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  85. 

198. 
Chaney,  Rev.  George  L.,  160, 

175. 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  885. 
Chauncy.  Rev.  Dr.  Charles,  159, 

178,  838. 
Chief  Publiahed  Writings.  840- 

846. 
Christ  Church.  Boston,  808, 810. 
Clap,  Thomas,  of  SdtuaU,  885. 


INDEX 


253 


Cbrk,  Rev.  Mr.,  c(  Dedham, 

Its. 
Clarke,  Dr.  John,  119. 
Clarke,  Richard,  18S. 
Clough,  Ebeneier,  «SI. 
Clough,  John,  iSl. 
"Collection  of  Foenu  by  Ser- 

eral  Handa,"  8S-101. 
CoUingwood,  Cuthbert,  4. 
Committee  of   Correspondence 
and  Safety,  Recorda  of,  161. 
Contributions  to  fiev}  Etijfland 

Weekly  Journal,  SS. 
Cooper,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  197, 

ist. 
Copley,  John  Singleton,  41,  St, 

lU,  148,  184,  18S. 
Copley  portrait  of,  221,  tit. 
Cornelian  ring  in  Copley  por- 
trait, ttl. 
Comhill,  Knox'a  bookstore  in. 

174. 
Cotton,  Rev.  John,  71, 18S,  iSI. 
Cnvath,  John,  231. 
Crosby,  Dr.,  228. 
Curwen,  Judge  Samuel,  extract 
from  journal  of,  150. 

Dantorth,  Rev.  John,  87. 

Dartmouth  College,  87. 

Day,  James,  2S1. 

"Dealings  with  the  Dead,"  118, 
2U. 

De  Bids,  Gilbert.  184. 

Degrees  (of  S.T.D.)  given  by 
Harvard.  232. 

DesBiisay  family  ol  Nova 
Scotia,  238. 

Dorchester  Heights,  troopa  en- 
camped on,  157. 

"  Dorothy  Q.,"  58. 


Drake's  "Hiatoiy  of  Boston," 
235. 

Drake's  "Landmarks  of  Boa- 
ton,"  233. 

Dummer,  Hon.  William.  59, 
227. 

Durell,  Captain,  of  warship 
Scarborough,  131. 

Duyckiuck's  "Cyclopnlia  of 
American  literature,"  80, 
234. 

"  Earl  Percy's  Dinner  Table,"  4. 

Earl  Ferv^y's  house,  151. 

Early  Congregational  Churches 

of  Boston,  37-3*. 
Edes  and  Gill,  publishers,  109. 
Edinburgh  University,  232. 
Eliot,  Rev.  Dr.  Andrew,  143, 

144,  232,  239. 
Eliot,  Mr.  Ephraim,  143,  159, 

234. 
Eliot,  Rev.  John,  73,  88,  158, 

169,  170.  235. 
Eliot,  Rev.  Samuel,  D.D..  231. 
Ellis,  Rev.  Dr.  George,  I ' 
Emmona,  Rev.  Dr.  Nathaniel, 

90,  119.  146,  147. 
Evelyn.  Captain,  4. 

Faneuil,  Benjamin,  183. 
Faneuil,  Peter,  182. 
Fairfield,  Nathaniel,  231. 
Fifield,  Richard,  40. 
Fint  Church,  Boston,  231. 
Fitch.  Timothy,  53. 
Fitch,  Mis.  Timothy.  53. 
"Flourish  ol  Annual  Springs" 

80,106. 
Foote,  Rev.  Heniy  Wilder,  51, 

240. 


254 


INDEX 


Forter,  HopotiU,  t»l. 

Foi.  Hon.  Hcniy  Edward,  4. 

FrukUnd.  Sir  Charlea  Henry, 

184. 
Flmnklin,  Dr.  Benjamiii,  lBi~ 

m.  201,  tan. 

Franklin.  James,  iS,  18«,  1S7. 

Gage,  Governor,  180. 

Gale,  Anna  (Noyei),  41,  it. 

Gale,  Azor,  Jr.,  4(. 

Gardiner,  Anne,  A3. 

Gardner,  Joseph,  165. 

Gay,  Frederick  Lewis,  It,  tS». 

Germaine,  Lord  George,  214. 

Gibbon,  Henry,  2S1. 

Gill,  Moses.  53. 

Gill,  Mrs.  Moses,  1st  &  2d,'  54. 

Gilmore,  James  R.  ("Edmund 

Kirke"),  232. 
Gowns,  worn  by  New  England 

ministers,  8,  10. 
Oraham't  Sfagazine,  60,  217. 
Granary  Burying  Ground,  58. 
Gray,  Harrison,  184,  214. 
Gray,  Rev.  Mr.,  88. 
"  Great  and  Thursday  Lecture^" 

84,  231,  232. 
"Great  Awakening,"  76,  82,  83. 
Great  fire  in  the  South  End,  200, 

201 
Green,  Joseph,  134,  135,  1*7, 

141,  233,  234. 
Green,  T.,  226. 
Green's  Elegy  on  Dr.  Byles's 

cat,  114-116,  284. 
Greenleaf,  Joseph,  165. 
Greenough,  Elizabeth,  16. 
Greenough,  William,  16. 
Gienville,  George,  Lord  Lans- 
downe,  104. 


GrerUle.     Charlea     Cavendadl 

Fulke^  121. 
Gunning,  Lieut.-Col.,  4. 

Halifax,  Nora  Scotia,  Boston 

Tories  at,  48. 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  social  life 

of,  47.  48. 
Halifax.  Nova  Scotia,  St.  Paul's 

Church  at,  8,  210. 
Hancock,  John,  147, 188. 
Hancock,  Mrs.  J'-hu,  55. 
Hancock,  Thomas,  183. 
Harratt,  Peter,  60, 
Harrison,    Peter,    architect    of 

King's  Chapel,  123. 
Harvard  College,  the  Mathers' 

relations  to,  22. 
Harvard  College,  President  and 

Fellows  of,  59. 
Harvard  College,  report  of  im- 
morality of  students  of,  24, 25. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  43,  45. 
Hazard,  Ebenezer,  199, 203. 228. 

233. 
Haselrigg.  Sir  Robert,  of  Leices- 
tershire, 207. 
Hell-Fire  Club,  33. 
Hill,  Hamilton  Andrews,  227. 
Hill,  John.  J.  P.,  165. 
Hill,  Thomas,  126. 
'Historical  Notkes,"  by  Eph- 

raim  Eliot,  234. 
HoUis  Street  Church,  organiza- 
tion and  founders  of.  39-41, 
231. 
HoUis  Street  congregation,  an- 
ger of,  151,  152. 
HoUis    Street    meeting-house, 
British  troops  quartered  in, 
151. 


INDEX 


MS 


Sdi 


Hopkuuunum,  76. 
Howe,  General,  6, 174. 
Hutchinjon,  Eluha,  183. 
HutchiDMii,  Governor  Thomu, 
__  14,  40,  SB,  183,  184. 
"Hymn  for  the  Spring,"  108, 

Hymn  vritten  at  lea,  181, 133. 

Iruh  regimenta  come  to  Boston 

(rom  Halitai,  176. 
Inoculation  for  amaU*iKi      26 

31,  186. 

Johnion,  Dr.  Samuel,  i32. 
Jones's  (Morton)  doggeiel  bal 
lad,  IM. 


Eng  George  1st,  death  of.  83, 

King  George  id,  accession  at.  94. 

IQng  William  Fourth,  ttO. 

King's  Chapel,  architecture  of, 
233. 

King's  Chapel,  architectuisl 
drawings  for,  1!3. 

Kmg'a  Chapel  congregation.  47. 

King's  Chapel,  history  and  de- 
scription of,  «1,  St,  240. 

King's  Chapel,  worshippers  at. 
180.  I 

Kneeland.  S..  M6. 

Knoi.  Gennal  Henry,  enters 
Boston,  174. 17<. 

I*«»downe  (George  Grenville), 

232. 
lAthrop.  Rev.  John. '83. 
lolie.  Miss  Eliia,  6»,  217.  2IB 

Ml.  230. 
Leslie,  Robert.  217. 
I<tter-boak  of  Dr.  Byba.  85. 


Letten  of  Dr.  Byfc.  in  Manu- 

__  •cripl,  240-248. 

"  Library  of  Harvard  University, 

Biographical  Omtributions." 

237. 
"Life  of  James  Otis."  163. 
Lincohi,  Major  General,  119. 
"Literary  History  of  America," 

229. 
londm  Menury,  »,.  28. 
Long  Wharf,  building  of,  42. 
Loring,  Isaac,  281. 
Lyde,  BySeld,  46,  211. 
Lyde,  Sarah,  daughter  of  By. 
add.  211.  '' 

Lynde,  Benjamin,  Esq., «». 

MassachusetU  Charter  of  1691. 

75. 
MassachusetU  Council,  50. 

Mattaekuutti  Qtaette,  123. 

MassachusetU  Hutotical  So- 
dety's  Collections,  130.  162 
«34,  237. 

MassachusetU  Historical  Soci- 
ety, Froeeeduigs  of,  228,  239. 

MassachusetU  SUte  Archives, 
volume  pertaining  to  Royal- 
ists, 164. 

Mather,  Rev.  Dr.  Cotton,  2, 14 
15, 18, 19,  22, 23, 36, 46, 78, 79. 
117,  179.  225,  226. 

Mather  dynasty,  84, 179. 

Mather,  Elisabeth.  16. 

Mather,  Rev.  Dr.  Increaa^  2, 

14,  15,  19-41,  26-34,  75,  179, 
ns,  226,  232. 

Mather,  Maria,  46. 
Mather,  Rev.  Richard,  75. 
Mather,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  14 

15,  46,  143,  225. 


SM 


INDEX 


vi 
hi 

,1 


Hatlier,  Suah.  M. 

Matlwn,  gnuluatea  U  Harvud, 
Ui. 

May  (uniljr,  147, 148. 

M>y,  JoMph.  iS4. 

Mayhew,  Rev.  Jooatfaui,  8A, 
178. 

"Mediution  of  Cunm,"  80-gt. 

Meeting-faoiuef,  chirf  places 
where  mdependence  wu  fos- 
tered, 142. 

"Memorial  Histoiy  of  Boston," 
117,  143,  8SS,  tas. 

Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,"  83. 

Muidock,  Harold,  ISO. 

"Nathaniel  Emmons  and 
Mather  Byles,"  132. 

Neal,  Jonathan,  231. 

JVne  England  Courani,  26-34, 
186,  187,  226,  236,  236. 

New  En^^d  Historic  Genea- 
logical Society,  95. 

New  EngUnd  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Begister,  147, 
223,234. 

"New  England  Hymn,"  pub- 
lished by  Edes  and  Gill,  <0S, 
110. 

Km  England  Magaxint,  232. 

New  England  patriots.  Dr. 
Emmons's  opinion  erf,  147. 

"New  England  Paalm-Singer," 
108. 

New  England  WtcUf  Journal, 
34,  as,  86,  100,  226. 

New  England's  GrieTaocea  "  Kd- 
dressed,"  176,  23S. 

New  light  opinions,  123, 124. 

New  North  Church,  143,  238. 

Newport,  R.  I.,  123. 


Noyes,  Anna,  42. 

Noyes,  Dr.  Oliver,  42,  228. 

Noyes,  John,  42. 

Noyes,  Sarah  (Oliver),  42. 

Odell,  Beginald,  18. 
"Old  Calvinism,"  77,  78. 
Old  North  Church,  47,  223. 
Old  South  Church,  40,  47,  60, 

87,  142,  m,  227,  284,  237. 
Oliver,  Hon.  Daniel,  88. 

Parker,    Bishop   Samuel,    202. 

238. 
Parker  House,  Boston,  183. 
Payson,  Joseph,  231. 
Pelham,  Peter,  10,  11,  228. 
Pemberton,  Rev.  Ebeneser,  84, 

232. 
Pemberton,  Samuel,  J.  P.,  163. 
Percy,  Earl,  letters  to  his  father 

and    Henry    Reveley,    Esq., 

149,  ISO. 
Phillips.  Rev.  Samuel,  231. 
PhiUips,  William,  183. 
Phipps,  Lieut.  Governor  Spen- 
cer, 59. 
"Pious  Remains"  of  Dr.  Samuel 

Byles,  219. 
Pitoum,  Major  John,  4. 
Poem    describing    a    Harvard 

Commencement,  100,  101. 
Poem  on  the  death  of  King 

George  1st,  and  the  ac'  ession 

of  George  2d,  84. 
Poem  —  "The  Comet,"  lOO. 
Poems  on  Several  Occasions," 

82,83. 
Popr,  Alexander,  101,  232,  233. 
Potter,  Alfred  Claghom,  237. 
Pownalborough,  Maine,  167. 


INDEX 


S57 


"0, 


lot. 


ud 


ud 


Friocc  Ker.  Dr.  Thomu,  M 

47, 80,  iir,  lit,  IIS,  178,  na. 

Princeton  College,  tst. 
ProK  Writingi  of  Dr.  Bylei,  M. 
Province  Hoiue,  deicription  mod 
biitorj  of,  *a-U. 

Quincjr,  Judge  Edmund,  M,  tU. 
Quincy  (amily,  5S, 

Hmwdon,  Lord  Franc'a,  4. 
Befugees  with  Howe's  fieet,  8. 
Heid,  Mrj.  Su«ann«,  in. 
Keveley,  Henry,  E«).,  letter  of 

Earl  r  rcy  to,  140,  I»0. 
Revere,  i'uid,  no. 
Ritchie  fsmily  of  Halifai,  838. 
Rogerenei  in  New  London,  808. 
Royall  family,  i3«. 
Royal,  Col.  Iiaac,  4. 

Sargent,  Lucius  Manlius,  118 

11*.  iSS. 
Second  Church,  Wientham,  tSi. 
Sergeant,  Peter,  43. 
Settlement  of  Dr.   Byles  over 

the  HolUs  St.  Church,  41. 
Bewail,  Chief~Justice,  17,  18,  84, 

85. 
Bewail,  Her.  Dr.  Joseph.  87,  84, 

178,  8S». 
Sheafe,  Roger,  4. 
Shirley,  Governor,  179. 
Smibert,  John,  888. 
Smith,  Josiah,  US. 
Smith,  Sydney,  181,  K33. 
Snelling,  Jonathan,  184. 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant, 

149. 
Sprague's  "Annals  of  the  Amer- 
ican Pulpit,"  88S. 


Stamp  Act,  178. 

SUte  Street,  Boston,  181. 

Stiles,  Rev.  Dr.  Ena,  eztnct 
from  diary  of,  W,  188,  834. 

St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  Trin- 
ity Church  at,  3,  811. 

St.  John's  Church,  Portsmouth. 
810. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  Halitai,  3, 
810. 

Tailer,  Dr.  Gillam,  88. 

Taller,  Rebecca,  87. 

Tailer,  Hon.  Lieut.-Gov.  Wil- 
liam, 38,  87,  880,  889. 

Tailer  family's  connexions,  87, 
68, 

Teal,  Emilia  Louisa,  48. 

"Topographical  and  Historical 
Description  of  Boston,"  44. 

Tories  leave  for  Halifax,  810. 

Trees  aloig  the  Mall,  188. 

Trinity  Church,  Boston,  8,  801, 
839,  840. 

Trinity  Church,  St.  John.  N.  B.. 
3,  811. 

TYott.  Thomas,  831. 
Tudor's    (William)     "Life    of 
James  Otis,"  163. 

'Twice  Told  Tales,"  43. 
Tyler,  Moses  Coit,  98. 

Unitarianism,     moderate    and 

advanced,  78,  77. 
University  of  Aberdeen.  83. 

Vassal!.  John.  181. 

Walker,  George  Leon,  U.D.,  881. 
Walter,  Rebecca,  6nt  wife  of 
Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  807. 


«58 


INDEX 


Walter,  Rev.  Nebeniiah,  M. 

Walter,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  Hec- 
tor of  Trinity  Church,  Boaton. 
8,  8,  «10,  t3». 

Warnut  of  Court  of  Seniooa 
for  aiTMt  of  Dr.  Bylea,  1(14, 
IM. 

Watti,  Rev.  Dr.  Iiaac,  ftS,  104, 

txt. 

Webteed,  Rev.  William,  83. 
Wendell,  Abraham,  its, 
Wendell,  Eliiabeth,  SS,  US. 
Wendell,  Profeiaor  Banett,  n». 


Wendell,  r  >win*  De  Key,  MS. 
Weit.  Benjamin,  bee  met  patron 

of  Mather  Brown,  21S,  tl4. 
Weit  Street,  Borton,  181. 
Whedock,   Rev.   Dr.    Eleuer, 

t7. 
WhiteHeld,  Rev.  George,  83. 
WilUrd,  Rev.  Mr.,  too. 
Wnulow,  Joahua,  188. 
Wmior,  Juatin,  i37. 
Winthrop,  Adam,  £aq..  Aft. 

'Yankee  heraldry,"  tt». 


m. 

tron 

14. 


